Avalonians and Questors
by Pyeknu
Summary: Sequel to Phoenix From The Ashes. While celebrating her first Christmas aboard HMCS Haida, Moroboshi Hiromi and her friends are transported to the universe of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D at the time of "Generations!" And as the crew of Haida try to prevent the Battle of Veridian III from claiming Jim Kirk's life, they also find themselves drawn into the world of Battle Royale!
1. The Thunderbird Arrives

Somewhere in time, fifteen light-years from the Amargosa star system . . .

"_**WHAT IN LYNA'S NAME HAPPENED?**_"

"Not really sure, Naoko!" a coughing Yamanoue Yuri said as smoke billowed from several stations and broken conduits in the operations room of H.M.C.S. _Haida_. "Aoi, did you get a scan of whatever that was?" she called out to one of her sister naval combat information operators, who was now busy at a still-working station.

"Negative!" Hatano Aoi, a raven-haired tomboy with dark grey eyes, called back. "It just came out of nowhere and overloaded every system I can access!"

At the operations officer's master station, Yoshino Tomomi tapped a control. "Ops to Damage Control! Is anyone down there right now?"

"Damage Control, Saeki!" a voice called back.

"Kozue, what's the ship's status right now?" Takanashi Naoko demanded from her place close to the central plotting table.

"Trying to activate auto-repair circuits, Elder Mother!" Saeki Kozue, one of the two Terran-form Avalonians – Kozue herself was a hull technician – presently assigned to the damage control monitoring room in the central part of the main hull, called back. "Systems all over the ship aren't responding! What in Lyna's name happened?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out!" Naoko called back. "Step on it!"

"Aye-aye!"

"Senior Officer's Pantry to Ops!"

"Go, Seina!" Tomomi called out.

"Lieutenant Anderson's down! She was nearly electrocuted to death when a wall panel exploded!" Yamaguchi Seina, one of the ten of the Canadian starship's original compliment of Avalonians who became stewards, called up. "Her life-link's steady but she's got considerable internal wounds! I need her evacuated to Sick Bay!"

"Seina, this is Miyuki!" one of the ship's prospective military policewomen, Oda Miyuki, called up. "I overheard that! A team's on their way to you now!"

"Thank Lyna! Hurry!"

Naoko gritted her teeth as she tapped a control. "Ops to Director!"

No response, which made all the Avalonians in the room pale. "Onē-sama, this is Naoko! Can you hear me?" Naoko pleaded.

"Naoko, we're closest to Onē-sama's quarters! We'll check it out!"

A sigh of relief. "Report when you're there, Marino!"

"Roger that, Elder Mother!" Iketani Marino, one of a dozen Avalonian plank-owners who elected to become infantry soldiers in the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards, called back.

Silence fell over the scene before the back door opened, revealing a woman in navy black overalls, a bag full of tools slung over her shoulder. "What in Lyna's name just happened to us?" Honda Tomoko, one of two naval electronics technicians (radar) currently aboard _Haida_ – like almost all of the ship's company, she came back to her home ship for Christmas break to celebrate it with her sisters; she wasn't scheduled to commence Level 3 trades training until after the New Year – demanded.

"If you knew the answer to that, Tomoko, we'd be really appreciative!" Tomomi said, a wry grin crossing her face. "Are Tsukihana-oniisama and Ayami-onēsama still aboard?"

"They should be. Ryōko-onēsama and her friends came over from Seito with Christmas gifts for them," Tomoko replied as she walked over to the starboard bulkhead, opening a panel there to reveal a sea of shorted circuits and small clouds of smoke. "Oh, Lyna . . .!"

"Bad?" Naoko asked.

The raven-haired, grey-eyed and bespectacled technician turned back, nodding. "Give me about thirty minutes?" she asked.

"Step on it!" Tomomi called out.

A groan. "Aye-aye!" Tomoko said as she moved to lay her tools out. "Recommend you switch to Auxiliary Operations. Remote systems scan shows it's intact!"

"Aoi, take everyone down there now!" Tomomi ordered.

"Aye-aye!"

* * *

Nearby . . .

"What is it?"

"Vessel type unknown, sir. However, it is approximately the same length and mass as a Romulan D'deridex-class battlecruiser, though the design is clearly not Romulan. To say anything of any other known space faring race. Commencing detail scans now . . . "

"It clearly must be Terran in origin."

Hearing that, William Riker looked aft. "How'd you come up with that, Worf?"

"The number on the hull under the main bridge, Commander," the just-promoted lieutenant-commander stated as he tapped a control on his security console.

The image of the drifting cigar-shaped warship – which clearly was a warship of some type given the considerable number of ball turrets mounted all over the hull, each with what appeared to be a triple-barrel rifled cannon system – was magnified. Sure enough, a black number **215**, standing out clearly against the surrounding soft light blue hull around it, was painted under what appeared to be the main bridge. "That is damned strange . . . " Riker stated. "Back off to main view."

Worf keyed a control to bring the whole shop back to view. By then, the shadows that had darkened most of the hull aft of amidships had started to fade as the ship slowly rolled to show her flanks to the _Enterprise_. As the bridge crew all watched, a large flag on the other ship's main hull rolled into view, such stretching from midships to nearly parallel to the aft end of the large block superstructure on what appeared to be the upper part of hull; the starship's bridge crew were assuming this thanks to the orientation of the hull number forward. On seeing that, Data blinked. "That is the flag of the Dominion of Canada, Commander. Yet clearly, I do not recall the Canadian military ever possessing a space vessel at all, especially one of this size."

"Neither do I, Data." Riker then tensed. "Wait! What's that aft?"

The android looked, and then he blinked. "It appears to be an external landing deck; the aft upper superstructure terminates in a rather large hangar structure." He took a moment to scan the interior of that particular part of the ship. "Internal scans indicate at least four auxiliary craft, each about the same size and mass as a Danube-class runabout. I would assume – as this vessel appears to be modelled after a surface warship of the latter decades of the Twentieth Century – such craft are meant as executive transports, short-range attack craft or cargo shuttlecraft."

"Wait! Data, look at the very aft end of the main hull! There's a name there!"

Hearing Worf's words, Data tapped controls to magnify what the tactical and security officer had just indicated. Soon enough, a close up of that second appeared on the main view screen, revealing a rectangular block of dark blue against the light grey of the surrounding hull, that punctuated by five Roman letters in dark gold. "_Haida_?" Riker read. "That's the name of an aboriginal tribe that lives on the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of British Columbia south of the Panhandle, not to mention some of the southern islands of the Panhandle. Data, do we have any record of any Canadian military ship with that name?" he asked the android beside him.

Data's fingers flew over the operations console, and then he quickly scanned the information there. "There was one such vessel. H.M.C.S. _Haida_, commissioning pendant number G-63, later given the hull classification number DDE-215 after the Second World War. A Tribal-class destroyer that served quite honourably in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1943 to 1962, when she was decommissioned and made a memorial. She still exists to this day, preserved in dry dock in Hamilton in Ontario. Yet . . . " He paused as he considered what he had just learned. "I would believe this _Haida_ . . . "

"Was constructed as a salute to the original ship," Riker finished.

"Speculation?"

People turned as a familiar bald-headed figure came up to stand beside his first and second officers, having just walked out of his ready room. Like many of the senior staff – they had just come up from the holodeck when the officer of the watch had reported the strange vessel's sudden appearance not so far off _Enterprise_'s current flight path – he was still dressed in the authentic uniform of a nineteenth-century sailing warship commander minus the dark blue tunic and the peaked cap. "Given the evidence of what we have seen so far, Captain, it appears this vessel may have come from another reality, one in which Canada – and other nations – fielded a space fleet before political unification of Earth occurred, as happened in our reality in 2150," Data said. "As to what time period _Haida_ hails from . . . "

"Hard to say," Riker finished.

"Captain!"

Jean-Luc Picard perked. "Yes?"

"It appears _Haida_ is attempting to communicate with us," Worf reported.

"Audio? Visual?"

"Negative, sir. By flashing lamp."

Eyes then locked on the image of _Haida_. The people on _Enterprise_'s bridge were quick to see a flashing white light blinking from somewhere close to the upper forward bridge of the strange ship. "Morse Code," Picard instantly stated as his mind picked up on the short- and long-timed flashes. "Data, can you read that?"

"Yes, I can," Data stated. "'AAA. AAA. AAA. Unknown vessel, this is Canadian warship _Haida_ of the United Nations Earth Defence Force. Please maintain your current distance from us at this time. We have suffered an unknown accident and do not wish to place your vessel at risk until we are confident that our ship's power systems are fully secure. If you can interpret this message, please signal back by Morse lamp . . . '" He blinked. "'Or if you do not possess signal lamps, please acknowledge using your main hull running lights.'" He paused, and then turned back to Picard. "The message is repeating, sir."

"Signal them back to acknowledge we received their message. If you can, ask them if they have any audio communication capability so we can contact them directly."

"Aye, sir!"

* * *

Five kilometres ahead of _Enterprise_'s bow . . .

"Running lights, Hitomi!"

"Translate," Koizumi Hitomi ordered.

Fujiki Sayuri, who had been working the main signal lamp on _Haida_'s starboard side, gazed through the light-enhancement scope on the "big eyes" binoculars located beside the visual signal station. "'Canadian warship _Haida_, this is the United Federation starship . . . '" Her voice then trailed off as her jaw dropped. "Impossible . . . "

"What?" Hitomi demanded.

The raven-haired, grey-eyed naval communicator (and prospective intelligence operator) blinked again before she stared at the maritime surface and sub-surface officer candidate; Hitomi – along with the nine other just-commissioned officers – had graduated from the Basic Military Officer's Course in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu six weeks ago; she herself would commence MARS training at _Venture_ in Esquimalt after the turn of the year. Noting the stunned shock on the other woman's face, Hitomi prodded, "What? What is it?"

"_Enterprise_!"

Silence fell over the scene . . .

* * *

_**Avalonians and Questors**_  
by Fred Herriot

Klingon translations provided by loghaD and ter'eS. Latin translations provided by DAVID.

_Arrival_ (1976), written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson, first released in instrumental format on the ABBA album of the same name, produced by Polar Music; the lyrical format used in this story is from the album _A Winter Symphony_ (2008), performed by Sarah Brightman and produced by Manhattan Records.

_In A Class of Her Own_ (production date unknown), written and produced for a video by Parks Canada for the H.M.C.S. _Haida_ National Historic Site of Canada, copyright by Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada; the lyrics used here under the applicable non-commercial reproduction provisions of the _Copyright Act_ (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada.

The quote Nakagawa Noriko makes in Part 25 comes from a speech entitled _In Our Youths, Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire_ by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr (1841-1935) on Memorial Day (30 May 1884).

Based on _Ikkitōsen_, created by Shiozaki Yūji; _Urusei Yatsura_, created by Takahashi Rumiko; _Battle Royale_, created by Takami Kōshun; and _Star Trek_, created by Gene Roddenberry.

Including characters and references from _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix_, created by Lyceen; the _True Love Story_ series, created by ASCII and Enterbrain; the _Final Romance_ series, created by Video System; _Ojōsama Express_, created by Mediaworks; _Doki Doki Pretty League_, created by Xing; _Gunslinger Girl_, created by Aida Yū; the _Harry Potter_ series, created by Joanne K. Rowling; _Top Gun_, created by Ehud Yonay, Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr; _Under Siege_, created by J.F. Lawton and Andrew Davis; _Zipang_, created by Kawaguchi Kaiji; _Koihime Musō_, created by BaseSon; and _Ranma 1/2_, created by Takahashi Rumiko.

This is a sequel to _Phoenix From the Ashes_. This story also contains characters and situations from the fanfic series _Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year_, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot; and the movie _Star Trek - Generations_, produced by Rick Berman, based on a story written by Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga.

* * *

_**WRITER'S INTRODUCTION:**__ This story is a direct sequel to _Phoenix From The Ashes_, coming from a plot bunny that's been munching in my mind for some time. Since I based a lot of my writing on the philosophies espoused in the Great Bird of the Galaxy's most famous work, I always wanted to try a crossover between the universes I created and the _Star Trek_ universe. This is set (in the timeline of _PFTA_) six months after the events in the main story, near the turn of the year to 2011. In the _Star Trek_ timeline, it is set at the time of the movie _Generations_ (the year 2371 according to the Memory Alpha website). The _Battle Royale_ elements of this story are based on the manga created by Takami K__ō_shun and Taguchi Masayuki, as adopted by Keith Giffen and released by TokyoPop in 2003-6, deviating from midway through Chapter 117 (in Volume 15), though there are some influences from the original novel as well as the film series.  


_The updated version of this story published in February 2012 will have writers' notes will come at the end of each chaper. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Captain's Log, Stardate 48627.6,**_  
_

_While on post-refit shakedown from Starbase 105, the _Enterprise_ has encountered an unknown starship bearing the markings of a warship of the armed forces of an old Terran nation, the Dominion of Canada. However, as history records, the Canadian military ceased to exist as a separate entity when it was amalgamated into the United Earth __Forces in 2113, though many of her infantry and armoured units were perpetuated into the U.E.F. and remain active today as part of the Starfleet Marine Corps.  
_

_Said vessel, identifying itself as the _Haida_ and obviously named in tribute to the most successful surface warship of the old Royal Canadian Navy, appeared out of nowhere, though Commander Data believes this ship phased into our universe from an alternate reality. Before an away team could be dispatched to ascertain more about her, the crew of _Haida_ signalled via old Morse lamp to _Enterprise_, warning us to remain clear of her until they believed it is safe for us to approach. Though we are quite surprised by this show of concern for our safety, Counsellor Troi believes the crew of _Haida_ mean no harm._

* * *

**Ship's Operational Log, Friday 24 December 2010, ship's time 2120 hours EST;  
Acting Sub-Lieutenant Takanashi Naoko reporting in the absence of the Commanding Officer,**

_Through means totally unknown at this time, _Haida_ was phased out of our home dimension and parking orbit over Earth into an alternate universe. No fatalities resulted in this transition, though Navigation Officer/Officer of the Watch Lieutenant (Navy) Michelle Anderson is currently in Sick Bay due to heavy trauma wounds suffered in the transition between dimensions. Furthermore, U.N.E.D.F. Director Moroboshi Hiromi, who was attending a Christmas celebration with the ship's company accompanied by friends from Japan, is also in Sick Bay, having sustained minor head trauma. Due to the absence of any other trained MARS officers at this time because of the Christmas holidays – and with the agreement of Chief Medical Officer Lieutenant Commander Elaine Cooper, Chief Security Officer Captain Douglas Tremblay, Ship's Chaplain Major (Padre) Vincent Klein, 21 Wing Duty Officer Captain Jessica Miller and 1 CG Duty Officer Captain Kevin Leclerc – this reporting officer has been forced to assume operational command of_ Haida. _A full muster of all sentients aboard reveals that at this time, _Haida_ currently has 524 personnel (including guests as well as detached personnel from 21 Space Wing and the 1st Battalion Canadian Guards battle group) aboard at this time._

_Repairs to ship's systems are underway at the time of this report._

_Acting Sub-Lieutenant Koizumi Hitomi and Ordinary Seaman Fujiki Sayuri were quick to notice an unknown vessel off _Haida_'s starboard beam within minutes of our phasing into this reality. Much to this reporting officer's surprise and shock, said vessel is none other than the United Federation of Planets starship _Enterprise_, pendant number NCC-1701-D. In our home reality, this vessel is a purely fictional craft, having appeared in the 1987-94 speculative fiction television series _Star Trek - The Next Generation_, produced by Paramount Pictures in California. While the full-Terran members of the ship's company are quite sceptical of the fact that we have phased into the reality as depicted in the aforementioned series, the empirical physical evidence of _Enterprise_ now waiting five kilometres off _Haida_'s beam cannot be denied._

_While none of the ships of the Earth Defence Force in our reality operate under what the Federation addresses as the "Prime Directive" (Starfleet General Order Number One, a regulation forbidding Starfleet personnel from intruding upon or influencing the natural development of less-advanced societies), this reporting officer has taken the necessary precautions to ensure that _Enterprise _remains clear of _Haida_ until such time as our vessel is secure and open contact via audio-visual communications can be attempted. In the reality depicted in episodes of _The Next Generation, Enterprise_ (atop her standing crew) also carries civilian dependants (including minors), thus this reporting officer feels it unwise to place defenceless civilians in potential danger. While _Haida_ has not suffere__d a serious breach of any of her power systems, the shorting out of primary and secondary controls has forced the ship's marine engineering staff under Acting Sub-Lieutenants Ishida Nagisa and Honjō Arisa and CERA Chief Petty Officer__ 1st Class Mark Dillard to declare full safety protocols._

_With agreement from the ship's non-MARS officers, plus the duty officers of 21 Wing and 1 CG Battle Group detachments aboard at this time, this reporting officer will turn command of _Haida_ over to the Officer of the Watch on her full recovery._

* * *

_Enterprise_, Ten Forward . . .

"So if that's a _Canadian_ ship, Captain Picard, how can it be _here_?"

Jean-Luc Picard could only sigh as he gazed out the windows of the lounge located at the forward end of the starship's primary hull at the distant shape of the _Haida_ looming far ahead of _Enterprise_; the captain had come down to Ten Forward to consult with Guinan about the unknown vessel. "I honestly can't say, Marissa," he stated as he looked down on Marissa Flores, the twelve year-old student who had been one of three dependent children who had been invited on a tour of the ship during the fifth year of the _Enterprise_'s current deep space mission by the captain . . . and wound up becoming an acting "first officer" when a quantum filament disabled the great ship, leaving it drifting in space for hours before Data had used his own positronic brain to effect the necessary repairs. "We know it's from another dimension, but as to which time period this vessel actually hails from, we have yet to learn that."

"It sure is big," Marissa's best friend – and another "officer" from that particular incident – Jay Gordon Graas noted. "And look at all the guns on it."

"Let me see," Marissa bade.

Jay handed the macro-binoculars – they were Starfleet surplus; his father Linus Graas was a security junior grade lieutenant under Worf – to his friend. Marissa took them and lifted them to her eyes to take a close look at the distant starship from another world. "Wow!" she breathed out. "You're right, Jay. There _are_ a lot of guns on that ship! Why would the Canadians have such a ship anyway? In old Earth history classes, I learned that Canada was more of a middle power before Earth united."

"I'm a little concerned about that myself," Picard noted.

"Will the Prime Directive apply, Captain?" Jay asked.

A sigh. "I can't say, Jay. We believe the _Haida_ is warp-capable; there is some form of anti-matter on that ship. But as to what she can do, we don't . . . "

An intercom whistle went off. "Bridge to Picard."

Picard tapped his communications badge. "Picard here. Go ahead, Number One."

"Sir, _Haida_ just signalled us," William Riker reported. "Voice communication on a 2100 megahertz frequency; Data confirms it's an old-style cellular phone making the signal. Her Chief Engine Room Artificer just told us that primary systems control over her main engines and power dynamos have been restored. The officer of the watch, an Acting Sub-Lieutenant Takanashi, is comfortable with us approaching close to her."

The veteran explorer blinked. "'Acting Sub-Lieutenant?'" he asked.

"Yes, Captain," Data spoke up. "The Royal Canadian Navy after 2011 and before 1968 – when the Canadian Forces were unified into one single armed service – and the Canadian Forces Maritime Command in the period between 1968 and 2011 made use of the ranking system of the old Royal Navy of Great Britain when it came to officers and non-commissioned members. A Navy acting sub-lieutenant would be the equivalent of an ensign in Starfleet. Furthermore, Lieutenant Takanashi reports that _Haida_ was in docked orbit over her Earth at the time of the accident that brought her into our dimension and time period. Unfortunately, the highest ranking operations officer aboard, a Lieutenant Anderson, is currently incapacitated in their Sick Bay." A pause, and then he added, "In their dimension, it is Christmas Eve in the year 2010."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"How did her universe develop such high technology so early?" Picard asked.

"Lieutenant Takanashi stated she suspected you would ask that question. It appears they have begun to deduce that we are from a future time period; her systems include a very sensitive communications detection suite which will allow her to pick up subspace messages from Starbase 105 and elsewhere," the android operations officer answered. "She needs to consult with the director of the United Nations Earth Defence Force, a Miss Moroboshi – who was visiting _Haida_ for the Christmas holidays as she views that ship as her flagship – before proceeding. I suspect that while the Earth Defence Force does not possess a Prime Directive as Starfleet does, they believe is similar ideals and wish to avoid causing _us_ harm."

Surprise crossed the captain's face as he considered Data's words. "Well, that's rather considerate of her," Picard noted. "Number One?"

"Sir?"

"Signal the _Haida_. Inform them we'll pull close alongside her. She appears capable of receiving shuttlecraft; I noticed the landing bays on her sides as well as that large landing deck on the aft upper superstructure. If the lieutenant is quite willing, we'll be more than happy to send an away team over."

"Aye, sir!"

With that, he turned to head out of the lounge. "Jean-Luc?" a voice called out.

He turned to smile at the El-Aurian observer/bartender who was one of his oldest and closest friends. "What is it, Guinan?" Noting where she was glancing towards, he turned back to gaze towards _Haida_. "Do you suspect there is a danger?"

The dusky-skinned multi-centenarian shook her head. "Not really a danger, Jean-Luc. More of a concern. There are great powers on that ship. Each almost as great as Q in a way." She then glanced around, almost expecting the omnipotent entity she had clashed with several times in the past to appear on the mention of his name.

"Q?" Picard said with a scowl; someone like him was something the captain did _not_ want to deal with. "Do you think he's responsible for bringing _Haida_ here?"

A shake of the head. "No. Whatever power did that is a power even _greater_ than any of the Q. Incredible as it is for me to say something like that," Guinan stated with a fleck of amusement in her voice. "And whatever it was . . . " A shake of the head. "It initially felt like thousands of young women crying out in anger. A rage that would even scare a Klingon with the level of its fury. _Haida_ was forced here by accident; I didn't feel any sort of malevolence in her being brought here. But they will have to face whatever it was that forced them here when they go home." She smiled at him. "You can trust them, Jean-Luc. They're newcomers to the ways of deep space, but they're eager to hold out their hands in friendship. Here, the Prime Directive . . . " Another shake of the head. "I don't think it will really apply in this case."

He nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

She gave him a knowing look. "How are you doing?"

Picard blinked, and then he bowed his head. "How am I supposed to feel?" he whispered.

"Well, when this is over with, come see me," Guinan advised.

A nod and pained smile. "I will . . . "

* * *

_Haida_, the wardroom . . .

"So we're absolutely convinced this is the _Enterprise_ from _Next Generation_?"

"The evidence our sensors are picking up from her can't be denied, Captain," Takanashi Naoko stated as she and the other senior officers sat around the main dining table to discuss what is happening. "The ship itself is of the same dimensions, mass and current number of personnel aboard as stated in various websites that we were able to access before we came here. Internal scans report alien species on that ship that we're totally not familiar with, yet may correspond with the species that were depicted in that show. Atop that, a quick examination of the surrounding stellar field by both Privates Ishihara and Shibata demonstrate a significantly different star dispersal pattern. Furthermore, the electronic warfare personnel are picking up quite different communications patterns from nearby systems than what we're familiar with."

"Where exactly are we?" Major (Reverend) Vincent Klein – who had elected to remain aboard _Haida_ for the holidays, accompanied by his wife, who had come aboard from the Canadian Forces Chaplain School and Centre at Borden to be with her husband – then asked.

"Were this back in our universe, Padre Vincent, we would be somewhere close to Tōkonokōen," Naoko reported. "But we're picking up clear traffic in English and the transmitting units do confirm they're either starships of Starfleet or starbases; we believe we're not too far away from Starbase 105. We've also picked up other traffic of a totally alien nature that we _think_ might be from the Klingon Empire. The language used does sound similar to the fragments of _tlhIngan Hol_ spoken in the television series."

The others at the table slowly nodded, though some of them were grinning at Naoko's addressing of the native language of the Klingon race by the accepted local pronunciation. "So how the hell did we get here in the first place?" the ship's chief security officer, Captain Douglas Tremblay, then asked, crossing his arms.

A shake of the head. "I can't even begin to start speculating on that, Captain. From what the hull technicians and naval electronic sensor operators could report, the ship was hit from the general direction of the bioroid factory." Here, the acting sub-lieutenant tapped controls to bring up a holographic chart on the table. "As you'll know, one of the few ex-Niphentaxian Naval vessels that were captured by us when our people escaped the Phentax system in February was docked alongside the factory, no doubt awaiting demolition or further space trials to better ascertain potential enemy capabilities," she explained as she pointed out the vessel in question on the hologram. "Whatever hit us came from the exact location of that ship vis-à-vis the bioroid factory."

"And us," Captain Jessica Miller, a pilot from 434 Space Tactical Fighter Squadron and the duty officer for 21 Wing aboard _Haida_ at this time, then stated.

"Exactly."

"So what do we do?" Lieutenant-Commander (Doctor) Elaine Cooper, the ship's chief medical officer, then asked. "Wait for rescue?"

"At this time, both Tsukihana-oniisama and Ayami-onēsama are analysing the sensor data," Naoko stated. "From that, they can try to replicate the exact energy pattern that struck us through the main engines in a controlled warp back into our dimension. Or so their current theory goes. But as to when they can do it . . . "

"We have to wait, in other words," Reverend Vincent stated.

"Yes, sir."

Sighs around the table. "Well, I don't know about you people, but I'm rather quite uncomfortable interacting with people who – in our reality – are characters from a _television show_ of all things," Captain Kevin Leclerc stated. He was a former platoon commander from le Royal 22e Régiment that currently served as operations officer for Number 3 Company in the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards; he was the 1 CG Battle Group duty officer at this time. "The unreality of the whole situation is really unnerving me. How can we NOT believe this is something someone's trying to pull on us? The Ipraedies or the Urusians for that matter? Maybe even the Niphentaxians, too! How . . .?"

"The most direct route to prove where we are, Captain, would be a mind-meld with a member of _Enterprise_'s ship's company," Naoko stated. "While I don't have proof positive of this, I don't believe the psionic species of the Federation such as the Vulcans or the Betazoids would be able to resist something like _that_. I should also add that – if this _is_ the actual reality of the universe of the United Federation of Planets in the twenty-fourth century of Earth's Common Era – they would find _us_ as hard to understand as we find them. Even if _Enterprise_ is technically an exploration vessel, she is also a warship with considerable firepower at her beck and call."

"And we're far too undermanned to put up a good fight," Tremblay stated. "Unless we trust everything to the automated systems."

A nod. "Yes, sir."

The others all sighed; as military officers, they were trained to NOT trust automated systems unless it was absolutely necessary. "How soon can Michelle be back on her feet, Doctor?" Lieutenant (Navy) Sally Carpenter, the naval combat systems engineering officer in charge of maintenance for _Haida_'s main battery of anti-ship guns, then asked. "Outside her, we have no trained MARS officers to serve as bridge watchkeepers. Even if Naoko and her sisters can handle the situation pretty much on their own, I'd be far more comfortable with Michelle back on her feet and in the operations room keeping an eye on things."

The chief medical officer sighed. "According to Narumi and Ayu, she's hovering on the point where _tre'cha_ may be required, Sally. Fortunately, we have spare bodies if we need them. But I don't like the idea of forcing _that_ choice on her if I can avoid it." Elaine Cooper herself had become an Avalonian a month ago; doing that had opened up all sorts of non-traditional healing paths she would never have been able to make use of had she remained a normal Terran. "She's still quite out of it and I won't force it unless her life-link becomes so fragile that there's no choice in the matter."

"What about the Director?" Leclerc asked.

"She's in a healing trance right now; she should be back on her feet in a day at the very least. Haneko, Sonami and Ryōko are watching over her at this time."

The others nodded, and then the ship's intercom chimed off. "Ops to Wardroom."

Naoko tapped a control. "Go ahead, Tomomi."

"_Enterprise_ has now positioned herself off our starboard beam at 500 metres distance between ourselves and her secondary hull. Captain Picard wishes to know if we would allow a shuttlecraft with an away team to come aboard at this time."

"Is the ship safe enough for use of materialisers?" Naoko asked.

"Yes. Arisa would be comfortable allowing them to enter through Room Nine."

"Have a side party muster, Tomomi, including honour guard. Signal _Enterprise_ and give her personnel coordinates for that location. We'll receive them there."

"Aye-aye."

* * *

Materialiser Room Nine, fifteen minutes later . . .

"They were shocked?"

"By the sounds of it," Naoko stated as she, Reverend Vincent Klein, his wife Major (Reverend) Alice Klein, and Captain Kevin Leclerc stood in a row before the materialiser control station. Also present were a section of infantry soldiers from the 1st Battalion, all with white dress belts around their waists, bayonets affixed to their C7A2s even if they were in naval combat dress; they would be under the command of the ship's coxswain when the visitors arrived. Manning the station right now was one of the ship's electrical technicians specifically trained on the maintenance of the system, Chitose Satomi. "Are we clear now to bring them aboard, Satomi?" she asked.

"Yes, Elder Mother, the defensive buffer is down," Satomi stated before tapping a control to open up a communications link between the two starships. "_Haida_ Materialiser Room Nine to _Enterprise_ Transporter Room Three. Do you have a clear beaming signal, Lieutenant?"

"Affirmative, Seaman Chitose," Brenda Robinson, senior transporter officer on _Enterprise_ in the wake of Miles O'Brien's posting to Deep Space Nine, called back. "Captain Picard and party of five being transported now. Energizing."

"Pipe the side!" Naoko called out.

As six columns of transporter energy appeared in the chamber, boatswain Fujikawa Satsumi piped the side as the ship's coxswain, Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Jacques Beaulieu, then barked out, "Captain's salute . . . PRESENT ARMS!"

The other officers saluted as the guardsmen slapped up their C7A2 rifles to the present. By then, the transporter effect faded, revealing Jean-Luc Picard, accompanied by William Riker (whom Naoko quickly sensed wasn't happy at the idea of his commanding officer leading the away team), Commander (Doctor) Beverly Crusher (with tricorder and medical gear), Lieutenant-Commanders Geordi la Forge (with engineer equipment in a shoulder bag and tricorder in hand) and Worf (also with tricorder as well as bearing a phaser pistol slung in a holster fitted into his pants) and Commander (Counsellor) Deanna Troi (who had a tricorder with her and was focusing her own empathic senses on everyone in the room, no doubt immediately sensing all the Avalonians present).

Noting the considerable number of people awaiting them, Picard relaxed himself before calling out, "Permission to come aboard?"

"Permission granted, Captain Picard," Naoko said as she lowered her arm.

"Guard detail, SHOULDER . . . ARMS!" the coxswain barked out.

As the guardsmen relaxed themselves, Picard stepped off the transporter pad to accept Naoko's offered hand. "Acting Sub-Lieutenant Takanashi, I presume?"

"You presume correctly, Captain Picard. And on behalf of the crew of Her Majesty's Canadian Starship _Haida_, 21 Space Wing and the 1st Battalion of the Regiment of Canadian Guards now aboard, I must apologise for forcing ourselves on you by being forced into your reality like this." Naoko withdrew her hand. "I hope you're not on some sort of mission at this time."

"Actually, we just departed from a local starbase several days ago after some refitting of equipment," Picard stated before he moved to introduce his companions.

Naoko herself then handled the introductions for the officers accompanying her, and then introduced her to CPO1 Beaulieu; the staff of the Canadian starship had – out of respect to the Prime Directive and the Temporal Prime Directive – elected to keep their knowledge of their visitors' identities secret for the time being (even though, since she was an empath, Deanna Troi would most likely sense their discomfort at keeping such a thing secret from them). "_Enterprise_ to _Haida_. We're ready to send the next group over," Lieutenant Robinson then called over from the Federation ship.

"Ladies and gentlemen, will you please clear the pad?" Satomi called out.

The other personnel moved off the pad, and then three more columns of light appeared. Naoko was quick to recognise two of them: Lieutenant (Doctor) Selar, one of _Enterprise_'s medical officers; and Lieutenant Reginald Endicott Barclay III, one of her systems diagnostic engineers and a former holodeck addict. Both of them had shoulder bags with equipment and tricorders in hand. The third officer, a woman showing mixed Terran-Vulcan parentage, was dressed in the same model of jumpsuit her shipmates were wearing, but the service colour was a dark forest green similar to what was worn by Canadian Forces land personnel on their dress uniforms, which Naoko didn't recognise from what she herself had seen on the series. She had lieutenant's pips on her right collar. She also had a phaser pistol holstered into her pants and a field bag slung over her shoulders. After the other arrivals fully came into view, Picard smiled as he moved to introduce them. On reaching the unknown, he said, "May I present Marine Corps Captain T'Thelaih Mason. She's temporarily assigned to us from Starbase 105 to test tactical systems."

Naoko nodded. "Welcome aboard, ladies and gentlemen."

"Does your ship normally carry ground troops, Captain?" Captain Leclerc asked.

"Oh, Fates . . .!"

That was Mason, a quite muscular and solid woman with sun-streaked dark brown hair in a bun at the back of her head and grey eyes. To the surprise of all of the Canadians from _Haida_, she was demonstrating a great level of personal emotion in comparison to Vulcan norm – watching her, Naoko was quick reminded of Spock's half-brother Sybok, who appeared in the movie _Star Trek V - The Final Frontier_ – as she gazed on Kevin Leclerc. "Is there something the matter, Captain Mason?" he asked.

"You're from the 52nd Battalion!" Mason stated.

The infantry officer blinked. "Actually, no. My regiment is called . . . "

She blinked before realisation dawned, and then she shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir! But the Canadian Guards these days exists as the 52nd Infantry Battalion of the Marine Corps; the regiment was reformed as part of the Canadian Army after the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s and eventually became part of United Earth's Military Assault Command Operations Forces in 2113 when the nations of Earth formed a single government. When the Marine Corps were founded as part of Starfleet, they shifted over and are seen as descent from the original Guards." A smile then crossed her face. "I recognise the hat badge; we wear the old regimental badges on our communicators when we're assigned to a line unit. I served as a line officer in the 22nd Infantry Battalion. They're descent from . . . "

He smirked. "_Les hosties de queues plates_?"

Mason gaped, and then she grinned. "_Mais oui_!" she answered in French.

Before anyone else could say anything, the two ground fighters began chatting away in quite eloquent _Français Québécois_, which made Picard grin in delight. Reverend Alice Klein then shifted over to stand beside _Enterprise_'s commanding officer. "«I take it hearing Québec French in your reality is something of a unique experience these days, Captain?»" she asked in accented French, which she had learned at the Canadian Forces Language School detachment in Borden after she undertook her basic chaplain officer's training course.

He perked on hearing her speak his native tongue, and then nodded. "«With the greater unity of the human race, hearing such a classical dialect of French as what is spoken in Québec is quite rare,»" he answered in kind. "«But what exactly did Captain Leclerc mean when he called his old regiment 'the communion wafer flat-tails?'»"

Laughter escaped both T'Thelaih Mason and Kevin Leclerc. "Well, I'm not sure how the language in France makes use of such profanities in your universe, Captain, but in Québec in my universe, it's quite common to make use of _sacres_ based on religious terms," the latter then stated in English; the translation field in the materialiser room had been shut down so that _Haida_'s systems wouldn't interfere with what systems (if any!) were brought from _Enterprise_. "And that term is a local nickname for my old regiment: le Royal 22e Régiment, one of the four regular force infantry regiments in Canada today. Which, I'm happy to hear, is serving humanity in your universe."

"As well as your current regiment," the former added. "Not to mention all the other former Canadian Army full-time infantry and armoured regiments as well. Even the ones that were disestablished when a remarkable madness called 'Unification' struck in 1968; they got reformed in the first part of the 21st Century and serve to this day."

"Oh, my Heavens! You must tell me more!"

He offered his arm to her, which she took as they stepped out of the room. More laughter from the others as they went . . . save from Worf, who remained quite stoic and calm, though there was a flash of approval and amusement in his dark brown eyes on noting that Mason – whom he had come to respect as a sister warrior during their brief time working together on _Enterprise_'s last refit; unlike other Vulcan-descent officers in Starfleet, T'Thelaih Mason didn't really care to fully submit herself to the rigid practices of _c'thia_ – had found a spiritual brother warrior in the red-haired, brown-eyed Canadian infantry officer. "Well, if I may propose something, why don't we shift this to the wardroom so everyone can relax, the stewards can give us drinks and snacks, then we can discuss the present situation?" Reverend Vincent Klein proposed.

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Troi agreed.

With that, Chief Beaulieu had the honour guard order arms, then dismissed them before he lead the guests from _Enterprise_ out of the room. Watching them go, Alice Klein was quick to notice that Deanna Troi was moving to fall back at the end of the group. Realising the Federation starship's counsellor was no doubt either under direct orders from Jean-Luc Picard to hang back and empathically observe their hosts – or was possibly acting on her own initiative concerning this situation – the Army chaplain instructor smiled as she moved over to stand beside her. "There's a reason we're doing it _this_ way, Commander," she said in a quiet voice, which made Troi stare at her.

"I don't understand."

A sigh. "Well, let me put it to you this way: We know a lot about your people even though this is actually the first time we've directly encountered each other. At least to MY knowledge!" As Troi's almost black eyes went very wide on hearing that, Reverend Alice added, "Now, as far as we know, there's no hostile or subversive reason for this to happen. But the way we know of you . . . " A shrug. "Well, put frankly, it's so weird . . . "

"That we would almost find it impossible to believe."

"Right. And there is both the Prime Directive and the Temporal Prime Directive to be concerned with as well," the Canadian army chaplain stated.

The half-Betazoid counsellor blinked, and then she shook her head. "I can't seem to conceive of any possible means of that happening that wouldn't violate one or both of those directives," she then said as they moved down the hallway.

"My point . . . "

_**To be continued . . .**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES:  
**

1) The Avalonian "plank-owners" who manned _Haida_ prior to her official commissioning into the Canadian Navy (as depicted in Part 32 of _Phoenix From the Ashes_) are based on various dating simulation video game characters; the series they hail from were some of those I took close interest in while I was teaching English as a foreign language in Korea between 1996-2005. **Takanashi Naoko**, **Yoshino Tomomi**, **Yamanoue Yuri**, **Oda Miyuki**, **Koizumi Hitomi**, **Fujiki Sayuri**, **Ishida Nagisa**, **Honjō Arisa**, **Sasamoto Narumi** (who was mentioned by Elaine Cooper in the wardroom meeting) and **Ishihara Tomomi** (mentioned by Naoko in the meeting; she is a prospective meteorological technician) hail from the series _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix_ (literally "National Sailor Suit Beautiful Lady Grand Prix"), an adult visual novel series that came out in 1996 and 1997 by the now-defunct Lyceen company; it was later followed by _Find Love_, which recycled some of the Grand Prix girls in a dating simulation made for the SegaSaturn in 1997. **Hatano Aoi**, **Saeki Kozue** and **Honda Tomoko** all are from the _True Love Story_ series of games, released by ASCII for the PlayStation gaming consoles between 1996 and 2003 (one version of the series came out as a three-part OVA series in 2003). **Yamaguchi Seina** and **Chitose Satomi** come from _Ojōsama Express_ (translated sometimes as "Princess Express"), a dating simulation game for the SegaSaturn system which was released by MediaWorks in 1999. **Iketani Marino** comes from the _Final Romance_ series of mahjong video parlour games released by VideoSystem in 1995 and 1996. **Wakabayashi Ayu** (who was also mentioned by Elaine Cooper in the wardroom meeting; she is also a prospective medical technician) comes from _Dōsōkai_ (known more popularly as "Class Reunion"), an adult dating simulation game released by F&C Company for the SegaSaturn and later the Sega DreamCast that would also transmit over to a pair of OVA series released in the late 1990s. And **Shibata Kanae** (mentioned by Naoko in the wardroom meeting; she is also a prospective meteorological technician) comes from _Dōkoku Soshite_, a SegaSaturn game released in 1998 by DataEast.

2) In the Canadian Forces, Regular Force basic trades training is ranked as **Level 3** (sometimes called **Trade Qualification Level 3** or **TQ3**); the **Level 1** and **Level 2** training once referred to Reserve Force basic trades training (I am unsure is such is still taught to part-time service personnel). One engages in Level 3 training straight out of basic training at the **Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School** (**CFLRS**) at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu unless environmental (Navy, Army or Air Force) training is demanded first. By the time people advance to the rank of corporal/leading seaman, they would have completed an on-the-job **Level 4** (**TQ4**) training syllabus, then return to their particular trade schools for **Level 5** (**TQ5**) classroom training; this was once called "TQ5A" as the equivalent of TQ5B was the junior leadership training course run for people awaiting appointment to master corporal/master seaman. **Level 6** classroom training happens when the serviceman is about to advance to sergeant/petty officer 2nd class.

3) The teaser scene on the _Enterprise_ happens right after the holodeck scene in _Star Trek - Generations_ where Worf was promoted to lieutenant commander (and accidentally went for a swim, as did Beverly Crusher). This was the time Jean-Luc Picard learned of the fate of his brother Robert and his nephew René (who both appeared in the _TNG_ fourth-season episode "Family").

4) The designation of the Romulan Warbird class which Data mentions, **D'deridex**, was first mentioned in the _TNG_ third-season episode "Tin Man." The class itself made its first appearance in the first-season finale "The Neutral Zone."

5) The "Big Eyes" ship-mounted naval binocular system are a rather large set of visual magnification devices that, on surface warships, are normally bolted to the deck on the open pilotage platform above the enclosed bridge. The lenses mounted in them have a magnification capability of twenty-power. While such devices seem redundant these days with all sorts of electronic scanning equipment available, personnel in various naval services have long lived to the idea that it is better to be safe than sorry. On _Haida_, such devices are located in special glass-lined lookout stations to either side of the main bridge, where the ship's Morse lamps for visual signalling are also located.

6) Translations: **MARS** – Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface, the official occupational name for Canadian Forces naval operations officers; **1 CG** – Military shorthand code for "First Battalion, the Canadian Guards;" **CERA** – Chief Engine Room Artificer, the senior non-commissioned engineer aboard a Canadian warship (a ship's CERA is normally either a chief petty officer 2nd class or chief petty officer 1st class in rank); **Tre'cha** – Literally "the passing on," the act by which a dying Sagussan/Avalonian shifts her soul into a receptacle soul for either posterity or full-body regeneration/replacement (similar to the Vulcan concept of shifting one's katra when one is about to die, as Spock demonstrated in _Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan_); **Mais oui!** – But of course!; **C'thia** – Literally "reality-truth," the word that is often improperly translated as "logic" from Vulcan (as noted in the novel _Spock's World_ [ISBN 0-6716-6851-X, released in 1988], written by Diane Duane).

7) The locations of certain planets and starbases mentioned in this story are based on what was depicted in the publication _Star Trek Star Charts_ (ISBN 0-7424-3-7705, published in 2002) by Geoffrey Mandel.

8) **Marissa Flores** (played by Erika Flores), **Jay Gordon Graas** (played by John Christian Graas) and their friend **Patterson Supra** (played by Max Supra) were the three children who, after winning the _Enterprise_'s on-board school science fair in 2368, would have been given the chance to tour the ship as guided by Captain Picard. As shown in the _TNG_ fifth-season episode "Disaster," said tour became a lot rougher than what people planned on. Their family names were not mentioned in the episode, but did appear on the commemorative plaque they gave Captain Picard after the _Enterprise_'s ship's systems were fully restored and before they began the REAL tour of the ship . . . starting at the battle bridge, of course!

9) The **Royal Canadian Navy** (**RCN**) officially reverted back to its pre-Unification name on 16 August 2011. At the time of this story, the service was still properly addressed as **Maritime Command** (**MARCOM**).

10) The planet **Tōkonokōen** was first mentioned in _The Senior Year_; it was to this world that the hunter Junba moved to after she was restored to life in the story "Great Father Ataru Stage Nine - Redemption."

11) The Colt Canada (formerly Diemaco) **C7A2** rifle is the current service rifle of the Canadian Armed Forces. It is a license-built version of the Cold M16A2 rifle that had the iron sight/carrying handle mounted atop the ejection port eliminated and replaced by a Weaver rail mounting system for the ELCAN C79A2 optical sighting system.

12) Lieutenant **Brenda Robinson** (played by Teri Hatcher, who played Lois Lane in _Lois and Clark - The New Adventures of Superman_, in a non-credited role) first appeared in the _TNG_ second-season episode "The Outrageous Okona." Her given names were not printed in the script for the episode; she was only addressed as "B.G. Robinson." I gave her the given names "Brenda Gina."

13) For this story, certain elements of _Star Trek_ lore beyond what was mentioned in the various television series were also brought in. One element is the **Starfleet Marine Corps** (**SFMC**), which was introduced in the FASA role-playing game series that was produced in the 1980s. In following what was introduced in the game as well throughout the various television shows and movies, the combined rank structure of Starfleet (based on the American Navy and Marine models) used here is described below (with the equivalent NATO codes). Please read as follows: **Starfleet Fleet Rank/Starfleet Marine Rank** – NATO rank code – _Canadian Forces rank (Army/Air Force)/Canadian Forces rank (Navy)_

**_COMMISSIONED OFFICERS_**

**Fleet Admiral/General of the Corps** – OF10 – _no Canadian Forces equivalent_ *  
**Admiral/General** – OF9 – _General/Admiral_  
**Vice Admiral/Lieutenant General** – OF8 – _Lieutenant-General/Vice-Admiral_  
**Rear Admiral (Upper Half)/Major General** – OF7 – _Major General/Rear Admiral_  
**Rear Admiral (Lower Half)/Brigadier General** – OF6 – _Brigadier General/Commodore_

**Captain/Colonel** – OF5 – _Colonel/Captain (Navy)_ **  
**Commander/Lieutenant Colonel** – OF4 – _Lieutenant Colonel/Commander_  
**Lieutenant Commander/Major** – OF3 – _Major/Lieutenant Commander_

**Lieutenant/Marine Captain** – OF2 – _Captain/Lieutenant (Navy)_  
**Lieutenant Junior Grade/First Lieutenant** – OF1 – _Lieutenant/Sub-Lieutenant_ ***  
**Ensign/Second Lieutenant** – OF1 – _Second Lieutenant/Acting Sub-Lieutenant_ ***

**_ACADEMY/STUDENT OFFICERS_** ****

**Cadet/Midshipman 1st Class** – SO (Senior Year) – _Officer Cadet/Naval Cadet (4th year)_  
**Cadet/Midshipman 2nd Class** – SO (Junior Year) – _Officer Cadet/Naval Cadet (3rd year)_  
**Cadet/Midshipman 3rd Class** – SO (Sophomore Year) – _Officer Cadet/Naval Cadet (2nd year)_  
**Cadet/Midshipman 4th Class** – SO (Freshman Year) – _Officer Cadet/Naval Cadet (1st year)_

**_NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS/MEMBERS_** *****

**Master Chief Petty Officer/Sergeant Major** – OR9 – _Chief Warrant Officer/Chief Petty Officer 1st Class_  
**Senior Chief Petty Officer/First Sergeant** – OR8 – _Master Warrant Officer/Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class_  
**Chief Petty Officer/Gunnery Sergeant** – OR7 – _Warrant Officer/Petty Officer 1st Class_  
**Petty Officer 1st Class/Staff Sergeant** – OR6 – _Sergeant/Petty Officer 2nd Class_

**Petty Officer 2nd Class/Sergeant** – OR5 – _Master Corporal/Master Seaman_  
**Petty Officer 3rd Class/Corporal** – OR4 – _Corporal/Leading Seaman_  
**Crewman 1st Class/Lance Corporal** – OR3 – _Private (Trained)/Able Seaman_  
**Crewman 2nd Class/Private 1st Class** – OR2 – _Private (Basic)/Ordinary Seaman_  
**Crewman 3rd Class/Private** – OR1 – _Private (Recruit)/Ordinary Seaman (Recruit)_

* - One person in Starfleet (regardless if said person is a fleet officer or Marine officer) will be appointed by the Federation Council to serve as **Commander-in-Chief (CINC) Starfleet**, thus effectively become a "six-star admiral/general" (i.e. like the American special appointment ranks **General of the Armies** or **Admiral of the Navy** or the old German **Reichsmarschall**). Such a person would then be designated as a **Grand Admiral** (if originally a fleet officer) or **Marshal of Starfleet** (if originally a Marine officer).

** - The position of **Fleet Captain** (as held by Christopher Pike when he was relieved of command of U.S.S. _Enterprise_) is an appointment (like the Canadian "rank" of Master Corporal/Master Seaman is legally a special appointment from the rank of corporal) from the rank of captain in Starfleet to indicate a senior member of the rank who has yet to be granted flag rank. The equivalent appointment in the Marine Corps is **Senior Colonel**.

*** - In the NATO ranking system, the code OF1 covers what the armed forces of the United States would designate as officers serving in pay codes O-1 (for Ensigns and Second Lieutenants) and O-2 (Lieutenants Junior Grade and First Lieutenants). In the NATO system, there is a separate officer code of OF(D) below OF-1, which is set aside for those officer candidates who are training to gain their commissions. When Wesley Crusher served on the _Enterprise_ as an "acting ensign" before he went to Starfleet Academy, he could be seen in the category of OF(D) in the NATO format.

**** - In the NATO ranking system, the concept of a "Student Officer" is set aside for those undergoing official officer training at a school like Starfleet Academy or the Royal Military College of Canada. In the member armed forces of NATO (like Canada), it is usually just one rank level, i.e. Officer Cadet or Naval Cadet. For the sake of this ranking list I made for Starfleet in this story, I broke down the cadet ranks to identify their actual year of study. When cadets are performing operational manoeuvres with the fleet, they are then traditionally addressed as Midshipmen, but are not appointed to a higher grade.

***** - In following United States Navy non-commissioned officer rate and rating tradition, the non-commissioned members of Starfleet aboard ship are titled using a combination of their rank as listed above and their specific trade.

14) The word **sacre** (taken from the French verb _sacrer_, meaning "to consecrate") is used to describe the various forms of profanity used in _Français Québécois_. _Les Hosties de Queues Plates_ is one of the nicknames given to **le Royal 22e Régiment**.


	2. Data's Emotion Chip

The wardroom, minutes later . . .

"Um, Mister Ki . . .?"

"What?"

"What are you doing?" Douglas Tremblay asked.

To the surprise of the visitors from _Enterprise_, the head of a young boy – looking not more than a couple years older than Marissa Flores in Jean-Luc Picard's eyes – peeked out from an open hatchway in the deck near the main dining table. He was dressed in a simple white jumpsuit with an armband bearing Chinese characters wrapped around his left bicep. "I'm doing diagnostics on the central control relays, Captain. They run through the decks here. Now, if you'll kindly excuse me, I don't want to be interrupted. We need to get this ship back in operating order before we can even _hope_ to get back to our universe." And with that, he ducked once more out of sight.

The visitors from _Enterprise_ were all gaping save for Selar, who had arched an eyebrow in curiosity. "How old is he?" Picard then asked their hosts.

"He turned fourteen on the eighth of September."

People turned to see a girl of about the same age sitting at the table. Dressed in a very elegant yukata, she had electric blue hair centre-parted on her head and tied off in two stringy ponytails at her temples, they held in place by twin sets of red ball barrettes. Blue eyes twinkled from a very cute face. And a red earring shaped like a fat Arabic number "9" hung from her left ear. On seeing her, Troi blinked before her breath caught in her throat as her empathic senses nearly overloaded on picking up the incredible power this child seemed to project from her very soul. As she staggered, Worf and Riker both moved to support her. "Deanna!" the first officer cried out as Crusher and Selar both drew their medical tricorders and began to administer first aide.

Immediately, the young girl got off her chair and walked over, placing her fingertips on the empath's forehead. The ends of the fingers glowed slightly, causing Troi to gasp in surprise before she blinked, and then she immediately straightened herself as she stared at the younger woman before her. "Deanna, what's wrong?" Riker asked before he stared in curiosity at Morokuzu Ryōko. "What did you do to her?"

"Your beloved focused her empathy too much on me and sensed the dragon within my soul, Lord Commander," Ryōko stated as her blue eyes sparked with amusement. "I just used a little of my dragon's power to help her better focus. After all, she serves as your lord captain's spiritual strategist. It would not be right to see her injured because of the nature of my being, seeing that you are willing to assist us in our current predicament." She then gazed on Troi. "There are others like me aboard this ship, Lady Commander. Look for these." She tapped her earring in emphasis.

The visitors from _Enterprise_ were quick to perk on sensing that this young girl seemed to know a lot more about them than she logically should given her quick recognition of the rank insignia on their collars. "Deanna, are you alright?" Crusher asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, Beverly," Troi responded. "I'm not sure what she did, but it certainly helped." As the others from _Enterprise_ gazed at her, she added, "In a way, she almost feels the same as Kevin Uxbridge did to me when we went to Delta Rana IV." She then stared at the younger girl. "You wouldn't be immortal, would you?"

"Actually, no. But I _have_ lived seventeen prior lives before my current one."

Silence.

"How do you know that?" Barclay asked.

A smile. "My magatama, good lieutenant." She tapped her earring. "Within it was placed the soul – or a copy of same; I know not which – of Zhūgě Liàng, the first chancellor of Shǔ Hàn in the third century C.E. on Earth." A shrug. "That is the reason that my birth name, 'Morokuzu Ryōko,' was given to me. The hànzì that went into 'Zhūgě Liàng' form three of the kanji of my birth name, with the addition of the '-ko' kanji for my given name as I am a woman."

More silence.

"_The Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ . . . "

Eyes locked on Riker. "Number One?" Picard asked.

The commander grimaced. "It's an ancient novel that was based on the events of one of the most traumatic times of China's history, Captain; the fall of the Latter Hàn Dynasty into three competing governments around the time Miss Morokuzu indicated. Shǔ Hàn was one." He indicated Ryōko. "Zhūgě Liàng was a master strategist serving the founder of that particular government she mentioned: Liú Bèi, the Zhāoliè Emperor; he also served as the first chancellor as Miss Morokuzu just said. An incredibly wise man who was an inventor, as was his wife, Huáng Yuèyīng. He created a repeating version of the crossbow, landmines and even the wheelbarrow. Or so the legends about him state."

"What about me?"

Heads turned over as the young man who was inside the maintenance hatch peeked out again. As the visitors from _Enterprise_ gaped – though some were quick to see his own red magatama earring – Ryōko smiled. "Tsukihana here – in his first life – was my wife, Huáng Yuèyīng. 'Ki Tsukihana' is the direct Japanese native reading of that name." She then winked at Troi, grinning. "Fortunately, he doesn't have a dragon inside him as I possess Fúlóng inside me."

"'Fúlóng?'" Worf asked.

"That was actually Chancellor Zhūgě's nickname, Commander Worf," Padre Vincent Klein answered. "If Commander Riker doesn't remember this, it means 'hidden dragon.' And while she may not be as powerful as the other tōshi who are spiritually bonded to dragons like Fúlóng, she can be quite the handful if someone tries to threaten her directly. And, of course, if young Tsukihana doesn't have one of his remarkable inventions close at hand to obliterate whoever would dare threaten his girlfriend."

The Klingon took that in, and then he gazed at Ryōko. "You are a warrior."

"In a sense of the term, yes," she stated. "However, as I'm sure you are aware, Master Worf, warriors don't always have to be physical when dealing with enemies."

A nod. "Indeed."

"Can you explain how your boyfriend is able to work on this ship's systems, miss?" La Forge asked after taking a quick glance with his VISOR into the maintenance tunnel where Tsukihana was busy doing a scan of the circuits in one terminal link.

"He would be qualified to work on them as he actually _built_ this ship."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"What?" Picard gasped.

"Your society is THAT advanced?" Barclay asked.

"Actually, we simply had no choice but to _become_ that advanced," Reverend Vincent answered. "While we're waiting for young Tsukihana to finish his work, let's sit down and have some snacks and drinks while we explain our situation to you."

"That sounds like a good idea, Padre," Captain Leclerc said. "Miss Negishi!" he called out.

A grey-eyed girl with shaggy raven hair in naval combat dress peeked out from the serving window on the aft bulkhead. "Sandwiches and salads are five minutes away, Captain," Negishi Chihiro announced. "We can prepare coffee and tea for everyone now."

"Please do so," the infantry officer stated.

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

An hour later . . .

"So because of alien races who are interested in your Earth – especially the race whose agents kidnapped Mister Ki and his friend, not to mention the other race who challenged your people in this 'tag race' with your director's brother over a year ago in your time period – your governments, while still respecting each other's sovereign rights, elected to adopt the ships Mister Ki and Miss Hakaru had built into an 'Earth Defence Force' that's still effectively in the formulation stage," Picard recapped.

"That's correct, Captain Picard," Vincent Klein replied. Everyone was enjoying sandwiches – including pure vegetarian confections created for Selar and T'Thelaih Mason; even if she was a follower of the ways of the late Master Sybok, the Marine captain did adhere to standard Vulcan dietary principles – and either tea or coffee (with a tall glass of prune juice for Worf) at the main dining table. "Much that it would have been more proper and right for us to develop the basic technology that makes ships like _Haida_ and her sisters possible on our own, Fate had other things in mind."

"Fortunately, everyone does realise that the instant you get past the line of the thermosphere, you pretty much hang up the nationalities at the door," Alice Klein then stated. "And all the nations who have battleships assigned to their defence forces or navies – not to mention the nations awaiting the construction of the new Type Two destroyers and Type Three frigates that are being built by the Avalonians as we speak – do accept that any sort of national rivalries on the surface have no place in the E.D.F."

"Such as what's happening right now in the Middle East in our dimension," Kevin Leclerc mused. "The current government of Tunisia looks like it's about to finally collapse. Fortunately for us, there's no Type One battleship that's part of the Tunisian Armed Forces, but thanks to the size of their population, they'll be given a Type Two when she's finally completed in the next couple months." He then looked towards the still-open hatchway. "What's the name of the Type Two for Tunisia?" he called out.

"Tunisian Forces Starship _Qarṭ__āj_!" Tsukihana replied.

Picard perked. "Named in honour of Carthage?"

"Why not?" Reverend Alice asked. "Political ideologies are volatile things to deal with, Captain. When they were choosing the names for the Type One ships, Director Moroboshi, Mister Ki and Miss Hakaru elected to choose either famous ships for those nations who had strong or old naval traditions – _Haida_, _Arizona_, _Hood_, _Bismarck_ and the like – or either a prominent physical feature, city name or famous citizen who was _**not**_ affiliated to any specific political faction from the country in question."

"Like what?" Mason asked.

"The Syrian Naval Starship _Madīnatul Yāsmīn_ takes her name from a nickname of the city of Damascus, 'the city of jasmine,' Captain Mason," Reverend Vincent then explained. "The Iranian Islamic Republic Starship _Firdawsī_ takes her name from a famous poet; he was the writer of the _Šāhnāmeh_, the _Book of Kings_. The Egyptian Naval Starship _An Nīl_ was named after the River Nile, which was the effective natural core of their civilisation. It just goes on and on. Seeing how careful and how respectful Director Moroboshi, Mister Ki and Miss Hakaru were in their original choices for the Type One battleships, all the parties now joining in for Phase Two of the Earth Defence Force's expansion entrusted them to make the right choices for the destroyers to come into commission over the next couple of years. And by then, sixty-seven percent of the nations on Earth will have some sort of representation in the Earth Defence Force. The other thirty-three percent – plus all the people who have battleships and destroyers in service or coming into service – will be able to commission one of the Type Three frigates by the end of next year."

The visitors from _Enterprise_ took a moment to absorb that. "That could be the catalyst that could bring your Earth together like ours was," Crusher noted.

"Maybe, Doctor," _Haida_'s ship's chaplain stated. "But most likely, what will happen is that the individual nations will retain their nominal independence and full control in internal and international affairs, while delegating all the necessary extraterrestrial matters to the United Nations and its subordinate authorities such as the Earth Defence Force. They already do that with the Special Committee on Alien Activities, which has been Earth's primary agency for dealing with aliens since 1947, when the first known contact with non-Terrans happened in the Roswell Incident." He then crossed his arms. "There is also precedence in our universe. A powerful interstellar union to the outspin and spinward of us – the Royal Kingdoms of Yehisril – are ruled by a council of sixteen crown princes even if there is the position of Lord Protector as administrative head-of-state for the whole entity." He smirked. "The Yehisrites tried the united empire approach for over a thousand years, but they grew tired of the corruption and put the entire old imperial family to the sword about two centuries ago."

Worf perked. "They are warriors?"

"Yes, Commander. From what I've heard, they fight as well with swords as they do with long rifles. I think they'd find your race quite fascinating."

"If they don't end up killing each other along the way," Troi deadpanned, instantly sensing that the chaplain had slipped slightly.

Laughter filled the room. "I honestly hope you didn't mean that as an insult, Commander," Naoko stated as she stared askance at the counsellor.

"I do not consider it an insult, Lieutenant," Worf stated. "My people can be quite . . . " He paused before nodding. "'Hot-headed,' I believe would be the best term to describe it." He sat back as all his Terran shipmates and Captain Mason stared wide-eyed at him. "We are a race of hunters. We will always be a race of hunters. As I once told the captain a couple years ago, I am _**not**_ a merry man!" As the others from the _Enterprise_ save Selar laughed as they remembered that incident with Q and the rogue archaeologist Elaine Vash four years ago, he added, "I would believe, given the great diversity of your own universe . . . " – their hosts had shown them a local galactic map of their dimension's Earth; the Starfleet personnel had been totally surprised that humanoid life had actually arisen on _Neptune_ of all planets in their host's home universe – " . . . the Yehisrites view themselves in a similar manner."

"They do. But then again, their home planet is not just home to a humanoid race of sentients, but a dozen other sentient races, including a race of spirit-dragons, a race of tigers, a race of serpents and several other animal forms," Ryōko stated before sipping her tea. "Is that the same way on your homeworld, Master Worf?"

A shake of the head. "No."

"That would be one incredible planet to explore," Reginald Barclay noted.

"Well, maybe once we figure out a way to get home, you might take advantage of that and reciprocate a visit to our dimension," Reverend Vincent stated.

Picard nodded. "That actually might be a possibility. We actually have records of encounters with parallel dimensions in our history, especially with what we call the 'mirror universe,' where the equivalent of the United Federation of Planets actually took the form of a conquering Terran Empire." He shook his head on remembering reading the logs of the original starship _Enterprise_ and her crew's encounter with their counterparts of the I.S.S. _Enterprise_ in 2267. "We'll have to consider it."

"It'll make exploration effectively limitless," La Forge noted.

"But there will be greater risk in that regard," Barclay warned.

"Not to mention the fact that it is known that interdimensional travellers will be forced home after a set period of time," Naoko added.

"That was proven in your universe?" Selar asked.

"Yes, Healer," _Haida_'s Elder Mother replied. "My own race's creators, in the early stages of the Age of Gisan'cha twenty-two thousand years ago, learned that they could not remain in another universe for more than one standard solar year." The visitors from _Enterprise_ had been given the explanation about the Avalonians, which had shocked them just as much as learning of an Earth from the early Twenty-first Century C.E. possessing warp-capable _starships_ and interacting with neighbouring alien races. Much to Troi's confusion, Picard had been personally quite rattled by those revelations, though she was quick to see him moving to keep his reaction masked from the view of others (though she no doubt suspected that Naoko and Ryōko would have sensed it right away).

"By what measurement?" Barclay wondered.

"It actually depends on the planet of your birth, Lieutenant."

"Ah!"

"So if all else fails, all we have to do is wait a year before being sent back home automatically," Leclerc mused before sipping his coffee.

"Hopefully avoiding being phased into the heart of a sun along the way," Mason wryly warned. "That would really ruin someone's day."

"_Oui_. Good point."

"Well, I certainly would say these people have got off to an incredible start."

Eyes locked on William Riker. "What made you say that, Will?" Troi asked.

He indicated Takanashi Naoko with a smile. "Look how fast they accepted an alien race to live amongst them, Deanna? Especially given that they're a race of _inducted sentients_! Don't you remember all the trouble we had with Data and Lal?"

Nods around the table; Troi was quick to sense that their hosts knew of both _Enterprise_'s android operations officer and his late daughter. "I assume these two you speak of are also inducted sentients?" Naoko asked with perfectly-masked innocence.

"Yes, but Commander Data and his late daughter are androids, not fully-organic bioroids like yourself and your crewmates, Lieutenant," Selar answered.

"What happened to his child?" Reverend Vincent asked.

Naoko was quick to sense a gloom of sadness fall over their visitor's hearts; even Selar felt profound regret over what had happened to Lal, even if said incident had happened five years before in their timeline. "She suffered a massive cascade failure of her positronic net," La Forge said as he felt a tear roll down his cheek. "Try as Data might to repair it, it just overwhelmed her at the end."

"Is the Young Mistress Lal's body still intact?" Ryōko then asked.

Everyone from the _Enterprise_ perked on hearing that. "What _did_ Data do with Lal's body?" Troi then asked as people looked on La Forge.

"The body itself is in storage in his laboratory," the chief engineer stated. "But please, Counsellor; don't tell him I said that to you."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind," Crusher stated.

The chief engineer winced. "Actually, maybe he will."

"What do you mean, Geordi?" Barclay asked.

A sigh. "Well, after that accident with you on the holodeck, Doctor, he decided he had no choice but to use the emotion chip Doctor Soong built for him."

The officers of _Haida_ were quick to sense the looks of shock and surprise that crossed their visitors' faces on hearing that. "But wasn't that chip corrupted when Lore stole it from the doctor and used it himself?" Crusher demanded.

"Yeah, it was, but Data felt he had no choice! Look what he did to you, Doc?" La Forge stated. "That was just his attempt at emulating humour!"

"Is Master Data threatened by this?" Ryōko cut in.

Another sigh. "I can't say."

"You should have consulted with us first, Geordi!" Crusher stated.

"What was I _supposed_ to do? He's my friend!"

"Couldn't Tsukihana or Ayami look at him?"

Eyes locked on Vincent Klein. "I doubt Tsukihana will be able to assist in that regard as he tends to gravitate to things that can be used to break other things," Ryōko stated. "But I believe Ayami-onēsan could assist in this case." She tapped a control on the table. "Shokatsuryō to Jun'iku! Onē-san, are you busy right now?"

"Not really," Hakaru Ayami called up from the main computer room. "Why?"

"Would you come to the wardroom, please? There's something we need to ask you."

"Coming up!"

Surprised by the sudden unspoken offer just made by their hosts, the _Enterprise_ personnel exchanged looks, and then Picard smiled before tapping his communicator. "Picard to _Enterprise_," he called out. "Commander Data, can you be relieved at this time?"

"Affirmative, sir," the android called back . . .

* * *

Ten minutes later . . .

"Well, it doesn't look _too_ bad, but it'll go crazy sooner or later."

"A most intriguing supposition, Miss Hakaru. What is the evidence you possess?"

Ayami smirked. "Well, believe it or not, looking at your central matrix, Master Data, reminds me of the central control computer of the Sagussan dockyard Tsukihana and I found at Den'sha Two, then later used to built this ship and her sisters," she explained, and then she gazed on the others in the room. "His central mind was built on interconnected mesonium crystals instead of positronic relays as what Master Data here has, but the basic scientific principles of inducted sentience as discovered on Sagussa ages ago seem to have found a counterpart in what his creator used to build him and this chip."

"'Mesonium?'" La Forge asked.

"Chemical symbol **Ms**, atomic number 181," the ponytailed caramel-haired teenager with the deep blue eyes explained as she passed a scanner over the open cranial port on the right side of Data's temple. William Riker and Worf had returned to the Federation starship to ensure a senior command presence there while the operations officer was spending time aboard _Haida_. "You probably can detect atoms of the stuff in the regenerative enzymes in the Avalonians aboard the ship with your scanners." Like the Canadian military personnel, all the tōshi aboard _Haida_ had been forewarned about not revealing their knowledge of the Federation's universe. "It's the only atom in my universe that seems to be perfectly conductive with the souls of all sentient beings. Then again, that's what the Seekers probably intended when they made that stuff."

"Who are the Seekers?" Troi asked.

"They're believed to be the first sentient race of our universe, Lady Deanna," Ryōko explained, making the counsellor blush on her being called "lady" by the reborn chancellor of Shǔ Hàn and current middle school student/Buddhist temple maiden. "A race of omnipotents, but they disappeared over three billion years ago. They scattered what are known as 'power jewels' – all made of a mixture of different types of mesonium compounds – over all the known life-bearing worlds across the Universe. Each of them were specifically programmed to bestow almost god-like power on a worthy host who _**has**_ to be an orphaned female of a sentient species who has endured physical or emotional hardship while growing up. The 'Jewel Warrior' – as they are called – for Earth was Dean Raeburn. A major in the Canadian Army's air cavalry corps during the Second World War; she would later command a team of metahumans in the defence of North America against Axis metahumans who were used to strike far from the front lines."

"Air cavalry?" T'Thelaih Mason then asked before shaking her head. "There was no such formation in the Canadian military in our universe's history, not like the United States Army possessed in the wake of the introduction of helicopters. It was the Royal Canadian Air Force that performed tactical air functions for the Army."

"Not exactly true, Captain Mason," Data stated. During the time he had stood as officer of the watch on _Enterprise_ while the away team was aboard _Haida_, he had reviewed all the known historical databanks about that country's military. "During World War Two, the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery formed three airborne observation post squadrons – Numbers 664, 665 and 666 – with the Royal Canadian Air Force to serve as forward airborne artillery observation units in support of the First Canadian Army. After the Korean War, the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps formed Number 1 Helicopter Transport Platoon in 1964. That unit was transformed into 450 Heavy Transport Helicopter Squadron four years later upon the organisational unification of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force into the Canadian Armed Forces." He then glanced at Captain Jessica Miller, who had come to the wardroom shortly after the android had beamed over from _Enterprise_ for a coffee break. "I would assume that in your reality, Captain Miller, the air cavalry service was a more offensive arm."

"You're right about that, Commander," the fighter pilot said before sipping her coffee. "They first started out as aero reconnaissance battalions of the Canadian Corps in World War One, then were made their own corps in 1920. They actually helped get the R.C.A.F. started, but then the big fighting between the Air Force and the Air Cavalry Corps started up over who would be the government regulators of civilian air services in Canada. World War Two finally came along and the Air Cavalry got hold of a really nasty little ground attack aircraft called the Sopwith Canada So-48 Camel II; Tommy Sopwith came over to Canada after World War One to restart his company in Ontario after his old company in Britain went bankrupt. The Camel II could also double as a day fighter if need be; it was built for long range and carrying heavy munitions loads. They used it as a tank buster; a combat regiment back then flew four attack squadrons of sixteen planes each, plus a reconnaissance squadron of sixteen Pup IIs – the scout version of the Camel II – and a support squadron of C-47 Dakotas for transport support to the ground brigade the regiment was attached to." She nodded to Ryōko. "Major Raeburn served with the senior unit of the Canadian Air Cavalry Corps, the 10th Saskatchewan Cavalry Regiment, until she was called off after Pearl Harbour to form the War Hawks, the military metahuman unit Ryōko here talked about."

"They got reduced to nil strength or converted back to ground armoured or infantry regiments after Unification," Kevin Leclerc added. "But when the Avalonians all came to Earth in February, they proposed restoring them to their traditional role as Army close air support. So right now, they're moving to take over everything that's vertical while pure air scouts like Jessica here handle everything that's horizontal or flying from this big beast we were given thanks to the girl trying to unscramble your central processor, Commander. Not to mention her friend in the tube under our feet."

A sudden laugh exploded from Data on hearing that. As everyone gaped at him, Ayumi gazed on her scanner. "Well, your chip took that easy. How do you feel?"

Data blinked, and then he looked confused. "That was . . . funny?" He then paused as he ran through what he had just heard, and then he nodded. "Sublime, but still quite funny." He gazed on Leclerc. "_Merci_, _Capitaine_. I do appreciate the experience."

He grinned. "_De rien_, _Capitaine de corvette_."

"Now, try to think of something in the past that you _know_ was a joke but couldn't appreciate the humour at the time," Ayami then advised.

Data considered that, and then his body began to quake before laughter escaped him. "Oh, my!" he breathed out. "Oh, my! I get it now! I GET IT!"

"What, Data? What?" La Forge asked.

More laughter, and then the android gazed on his best friend. "When you said to Commander Riker, 'The clown can stay . . . but the Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go!'" Even more laughter before he stopped, and then he blinked. "Oh, my . . .!"

"When did I say that?" the chief engineer demanded.

"The Farpoint mission!" Data then stated before laughing again. "We were on the bridge! You told a joke . . . and _that_ was the punch line! Don't you remember it?"

La Forge blinked, and then he grinned. "Oh, I remember now!"

"That was eight years ago!" Crusher stated; she and Selar were now standing behind Ayami, monitoring the situation with their own tricorders.

"Well, at least a joke fondly remembered even after _that_ length of time is much better than a joke that could _never_ be properly appreciated," Reverend Vincent said.

Chuckles from many of the others in the room. "How is he?" Troi asked.

"Well, his relays are taking the new emotional input, but there's not much in the way of a sort of self-discipline buffer to prevent the input from overloading all his synapses," Ayami stated. "Master Data, when were you first activated full-time?"

"Twenty-three thirty-eight," he replied, a look of confusion on his face.

"And this is now 2371, which means you've been active for _thirty-three_ years," Ayami stated, shaking her head. "You know, I can admire a man like Doctor Soong for creating someone as wonderful as you, but I wonder if he really thought out the idea of giving you an emotion chip after you lived a life of _**that**_ amount of time without it!"

"How _dare_ he . . .?"

Everyone jolted on hearing that angry hiss. "Data . . .?" Troi gasped.

"**ENOUGH!**"

The android gasped before he found his vision filled with the angry face and glowing golden dragon-slit eyes of one Morokuzu Ryōko. "**Be calm, young child of the magic of metal!**" she snarled in a booming voice that made the other visitors – even Worf and Selar – from _Enterprise_ take a cautious step clear while the people from _Haida_ remained calm; they either knew or had witnessed dragon-possessed tōshi run loose beforehand, so seeing Fúlóng seize control of the young temple maiden didn't make them blink. And there was their knowledge of the Noukiite free warrior known as "She Who Speaks to Dragons." "**Even if he did not comprehend what you had endured from the day of your full awakening to the day he perished in your arms, Master Data, Noonian Soong is still your sire and loved you with every fibre of his being! But because he was human, he was capable of making mistakes! As he did by not taking into account that your brother was woken when he summoned you to the third world of Terlina! Remember, you owe him your EXISTENCE, child!**" And with that, her eyes returned to their normal blue before she smiled, and then walked away from them, leaving behind a gaping android.

Ayumu returned to scanning Data's positronic relays. "Well, that didn't overload him, either," she calmly stated. "You okay, Commander?"

Data blinked, and then he asked, "What _was_ that?"

"An entity almost as powerful if not _as_ powerful as Q himself," Troi answered.

"It would be advised to not anger someone of her nature," Selar added.

He considered that, and then nodded. "I will keep that in mind, Doctor."

"Wise decision," Ayumu advised.

"Kōmei-dono, what has upset you so . . .?"

People turned . . .

"Hiromi-onēsama! What are you doing out of bed?" Naoko demanded.

A groan. "Naoko-chan, please! Not so loud!"

. . . to see a teenage woman in jeans and a red T-shirt with the image of a jackrabbit on it slowly walk into the wardroom, holding an ice pack over the left side of her head. Beside her was a girl the same age, also in stylish clothes, though she had glasses over her eyes and her hair was a lovely shade of caramel, styled long into twin ponytails with ball barrettes holding them in place; her companion had chocolate brown hair cut in a shaggy taper. Their eyes were different as well: the one with glasses had eyes the shade of a green field while her companion's eyes matched her hair. "And what on Earth are _you_ doing out of bed, young lady?" Reverend Vincent asked as he walked over to assist Koro Sonami help Moroboshi Hiromi into her chair, which the reborn emperor did with a groan. "Aren't you supposed to be in a meditative trance?"

"Much that I could stand a little while more in such a trance, good Padre, Sick Bay gets _boring_ after a bit!" Hiromi hissed. "Not to mention the fact that now that she is in a new body and resting after _tre'cha_, I just learned the Lady Michelle _**snores**_!"

The people from _Enterprise_ blinked. "'In a new body?'" Troi asked.

"There was no choice," Sonami explained. "The damage to her nerves was too great; even if she could recover from the electrical shock, she would've been paralysed for life." A shrug. "Unfortunately, Cooper-sensei doesn't have the DNA-neutral gene-recombinant therapy drug necessary to help Anderson-taii recover _that_ way, so . . . "

"Body-swap," Miller stated.

"Holy . . .!"

Eyes locked on Geordi La Forge. "You mean to say that you could actually shift a person's very _soul_ into another body like that?" the chief engineer demanded.

"Of course," Naoko stated. "How do you think Ryōko-onēsama, Ayami-onēsama, Sonami-onēsama and Hiromi-onēsama became Avalonians themselves?"

Silence.

"The impact on your society . . . "

"May be profound, Doctor," Reverend Alice Klein cut Beverly Crusher off. "But even the most religiously and socially conservative people on Earth are willing to let it go given how the Avalonians were treated by the Niphentaxians."

"Besides, the Avalonians can interbreed with Terrans, so the whole human race is about to take a massive quantum leap genetically into the future," Kevin Leclerc added. "There'll be the nay-sayers, of course; there're nay-sayers to anything that happens where people say humanity will benefit from it. It's the nature of being human."

"And even if we aren't exactly 'human' in the Terran sense, we're human enough in spirit and soul to be accepted as same," Hiromi added before she gazed on Jean-Luc Picard. "A thousand humble pardons for our intruding on your universe so suddenly, Lord Captain. I pray our presence here is not disrupting a vital mission."

Picard smiled as he walked over, hand out. "Be assured, Director Moroboshi, as of this time, you _are_ our mission." He grasped her offered hand, and then he shook Sonami's hand. "On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, I'd like to welcome you all to our universe. And I hope we can help get you back home soon."

"For that, good sir, you have our most profound thanks," Hiromi stated.

"So who were you back then?" La Forge asked.

"What do you mean, Commander?" Sonami wondered.

As Troi tried not to grin on noting that slip-up, La Forge pointed to his ear in emphasis. "In the Three Kingdoms period of China?"

Hiromi and Sonami blinked, and then they laughed. "Ah, you've been told about _that_, I see!" the reborn emperor stated, and then waved to her cousin. "My most lovely cousin here was a true hero of the land at the time, Lord Commander: Master Liú Bèi, Lord Xuándé; later, the Zhāoliè Emperor of Shǔ Hàn. These days, she is the president of the student council of Seito High School, the Lady Koro Sonami." As Sonami giggled in embarrassment at her cousin's words, Hiromi then added, "Who, in her first life, felt forced to assume the title of Emperor of Shǔ Hàn when the son of the then-late Master Cáo Cāo, Lord Mèngdé, decided to depose my own child from the Dragon Throne and declare himself the Wèi Emperor of a new dynasty."

"Then you were Liú Hóng, the Xiàolíng Emperor of the Latter Hàn Dynasty?"

A nod. "The same. And whatever is wrong with you, good sir?" Hiromi asked as she stared in confusion – Deanna Troi was quick to sense it was false, though it was remarkably well-disguised – at the android now at Ayami's tender mercies.

"An android experiencing emotion for the first time since his activation thirty-three years ago, My Emperor," Ayami helpfully explained.

A nod. "I assume you are moving to aid the good commander in mastering his new abilities, Bunjaku-dono?" Hiromi then asked, a knowing grin crossing her face.

"But of course, Majesty!"

"Then do not let me stop you."

Laughter filled the wardroom . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES:**

1) The incident with **Kevin Uxbridge** that Troi recalled at the start of this part was depicted in the _TNG_ third-season episode "The Survivors." For those who don't remember that episode, Uxbridge was a Douwd, an immortal being who – after his human wife and the colonists on Delta Rana IV were wiped out by a race known as the Husnock – unleashed his power to wipe out the Husnock to the very last being. To ensure he could not be sensed for what he really was, Uxbridge used his power to overwhelm Troi's empathic senses when the _Enterprise_ came to investigate.

2) Translations: **VISOR** – an acronym meaning "Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement"; **De rien** – Literally "of nothing," this is one way of saying "You're welcome" in French; **Capitaine de corvette** – Corvette Captain, the French translation of the rank of lieutenant commander.

3) **Negishi Chihiro** is a background character from _Ojōsama Express_.

4) Worf was introduced to prune juice – which he judged a warrior's drink – in the _TNG_ third-season episode "Yesterday's _Enterprise_." Ironically, I was inspired by that and intend to play that concept up with the Yehisrites – whom I based a lot on the Klingons – in future stores in _Twenty Years Later_; I will have Varanko (who first appeared in _The Senior Year_ story "Ancient Ties") discover _cod liver oil_ and accept such quite positively.

5) The incident with **Q** and **Vash** (whom I give the given name Elaine) was depicted in the _TNG_ fourth-season episode "Qpid."

6) The concept of multiple sentient species being alive and active on Yehisril – as well as interacting with each other – was first introduced in _The Senior Year_ side-story "The Ones Left Behind."

7) The chemical composition of **mesonium** (**meson**) was also mentioned in my Harry Potter story _The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone_. The concept of the Jewel Warriors was introduced in my story _Wanderers_. **Major Dean Raeburn** is a character I created that I've mentioned from time to time in my works; she appears in _The Thunderbolt's Tears_. The concept of the **Royal Canadian Corps of Air Cavalry** (**RCCAC**) is my invention. The idea of **Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith** (1888-1989) actually moving to Canada in the wake of the collapse of his own company in Britain after World War Two is, of course, fictional. The story behind the three combined Royal Canadian Artillery/Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons – **James Doohan**, who played Scotty in the original _Star Trek_, was a member of **666 Air Observation Post Squadron** during World War Two – and **Number 1 Helicopter Transport Platoon RCASC**/**450 Heavy Transport Helicopter Squadron** is, however, quite real.

8) Data finally encountered his late father, **Noonian Soong**, in the _TNG_ fourth-season episode "Brothers." It was here that Data would have received the emotion chip that his father had prepared for him, but such was stolen by his brother Lore in that episode and would not be recovered until the seventh-season opening episode "Descent, Part II."


	3. The Return of Lal

**Captain's Log, Stardate 48628.1,**_  
_

_All shipboard systems aboard H.M.C.S. _Haida_ have been restored to proper function and the visiting starship from another dimension and time is now proceeding with _Enterprise_ to Starbase 105 to allow Mister Tsukihana Ki and Miss Ayami Hakaru an opportunity to access Federation records on interdimensional contacts through subspace relay from the Memory Alpha colony so that the means to restore her to her proper dimension and time period can be located and employed as quickly as possible._

_Furthermore, the Officer of the Watch at the time of _Haida_'s transition into our dimension, Lieutenant Michelle Anderson, was restored to full health by the simple and expedient means of a soul-transference – similar to the Vulcan concept of shifting one's _katra_ from one's mind to a willing vessel on time of death – into a cloned Avalonian body to prevent a promising career in the Royal Canadian Navy from ending due to permanent paralysis. While I am somewhat uncomfortable with such a concept as such a capability could be grossly abused, both Earth Defence Director Hiromi Moroboshi and _Haida_ ship's chaplain Major (Reverend) Vincent Klein stated that the Avalonian civilian leadership is – with the assistance of a special agency of the United Nations, the Special Committee on Alien Activities – keeping a vigilant eye against such abuse. Both believe that with pending negotiations with a neighbouring galactic power of their Earth, the Imperial Houses of the Seifukusu Dominion, over the transfer of thirty Class M colony planets to joint Terran/Avalonian control will aid in keeping such abuse at a bare minimum as Earth would become too busy with colonisation to worry about such petty scheming._

_Regardless of the more unique aspects of the Avalonians as a race of inducted sentients who could and gladly do welcome representatives from other races to become "sisters" of their overall society, _Enterprise_'s xeno-biologists, xeno-sociologists and other departments – especially enthusiasts of late Second Millennium and early Third Millennium Earth history – are taking great advantage of this encounter to meet with _Haida_'s personnel to better understand the remarkable confluence of two such diverse cultures such as New Avalon and Earth in the year 2010 into a working partnership against what appears to be a mostly hostile galaxy now surrounding them from almost all sides. To ensure that such encounters remain peaceful, elements of the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards currently aboard _Haida_ as well as the ship's Military Police Division personnel aboard at the time of her accident under Army Captain Douglas Tremblay have teamed together with _Enterprise_'s security personnel under Commander Worf to patrol open areas on both vessels._

_In addition, an away team composed of Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, Marine Captain T'Thelaih Mason and Doctor Selar have been assigned to _Haida_ to better advise Lieutenant Anderson and her current senior staff as to local conditions._

_Much to my personal relief, Commander Data has been – with the assistance of Miss Hakaru – restored to proper function with the addition of special emotional buffers to his central matrix thanks to his willingness to make use of the __emotional chip given to him by his late father, Doctor Noonian Soong. And much to my personal delight, Miss Hakaru and others of _Haida_'s crew has expressed willingness to do whatever they can to restore the commander's daughter, Lal – whose body remained in storage in his lab aboard _Enterprise_ since her tragic deactivation – to full operation._

_If only my own problems could be cured so easily . . ._

* * *

**Ship's Operational Log, Saturday 25 December 2010, ship's time 1240 hours EST;**  
**Lieutenant (Navy) Michelle Anderson reporting in the absence of the Commanding Officer,**

_After repairs to the ship's systems were made by U.N.E.D.F. Special Technical Advisors Ki Tsukihana and Hakaru Ayami, H.M.C.S. _Haida_ joined U.S.S. _Enterprise_ on course to Starbase 105 (located 121 light-years out-spin from this dimension's Sol System on bearing 098 mark 007) so that all United Federation of Planets records concerning interdimensional and temporal travel can be accessed from the Memory Alpha colony to allow us to expedite our return to our home dimension and time period. Fortunately for us, the high level of Sagussan Fourth Republic-based technology used in _Haida_'s initial construction – not to mention our open willingness to welcome the Avalonians amongst us as equals in our home society – allowed us to be exempted from any Prime Directive restrictions that _Enterprise_'s commanding officer, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, may have been forced to use given the fact that we hail from the year 2010 and they are from the year 2371, the descendants of a much different history and evolution that we._

_Given the unique nature of this contact, all personnel are still observing the decision made in this reporting officer's medical absence from command to not inform our hosts of our knowledge of their universe through the television show _Star Trek - The Next Generation_, not to mention the four sequel movies made based on that series. This, we all believe, is vitally important given the current stardate _Enterprise_ is operating in. If information from the series is accurate, we are most likely days away from the Battle of Veridian III, where – according to the movie _Star Trek - Generations_ (released in 1994) – the _Enterprise_ will be effectively lost in battle against rogue Klingon warriors in the midst of saving a pre-space faring civilisation on the fourth world of that star system. This was also the time when Captain Picard's famous predecessor as commanding officer of the _Enterprise_, Captain James T. Kirk, was found trapped in a spacial-temporal "nexus" . . . only to die assisting his successor in the defence of the Veridian system against a rogue scientist of the planet El-Auria, Doctor Tolian Soran, who was questing to enter the aforementioned nexus._

_While Major (Reverend) Alice Klein did hint to _Enterprise_'s ship's counsellor Commander Deanna Troi that we were quite aware of their universe and history (though not fully explaining why), this reporting officer finds herself in conflict, as do many of the personnel aboard _Haida_ at this time. While this reporting officer was never a "Trekker" per se, many of the people currently aboard _Haida_ – U.N.E.D.F. Director Moroboshi Hiromi, her cousin Koro Sonami, Miss Koro's schoolmate Haru Asumi and Ship's Security Officer Captain Douglas Tremblay among them – ARE devoted fans of _Star Trek_ and are aware of what will confront _Enterprise_ within the next few days. They are especially depressed at the idea that a valiant man such as Captain Kirk will soon die in a way they personally see as quite wrong given his many accomplishments as commanding officer of the first and second starships _Enterprise_ during the periods 2264-70, 2273-81 and 2286-93. While this reporting officer is hesitant on the idea of taking a badly-undermanned star battleship/aircraft carrier into a potential warzone against fanatic fighters and a lunatic scientist desperate to regain the chance to re-embrace eternal bliss, _Haida_'s recent mission to Yaminokuni in the summer of 2010 demonstrates that – with use of surprise and guile – we can succeed where _Enterprise_ nearly failed (if the events as depicted in _Generations_ actually are the future true events for this dimension and timeline) against Doctor Soran and the Klingons._

_This reporting officer is debating the merits of what should apply more in this case: Common humanity or respecting our host's most sacred laws of non-interference._

_Which path should we follow?_

* * *

_Haida_, Ship Special Systems Workshop . . .

"And THERE, Commander, is where you went wrong."

Staring at the open cranium of his deactivated daughter's skull, Data could only shake her head. "Unbelievable," he whispered, allowing his tears to flow, though he now understood that such tears were that of happiness in lieu of sorrow. "To believe that I missed _that_ in the original design of Lal's positronic matrix."

"Well, you were pretty influenced by all the information about submicron matrix transfer developments by the time you began constructing her body, Data," Geordi La Forge said as he watched Asai Mayumi, the ship's only aerospace telecommunications and information systems technician (albeit not formally trained) aboard at this time, work a molecular probe on the surface of Lal's now-rebuilt central processor. _Enterprise_ and _Haida_ were now two days out from Starbase 105, cruising at a casual Warp 4 as the two starships made for the remote operations station in an arm of Federation space surrounded on three sides by Klingon space and not twenty light-years from the Romulan Neutral Zone. "Maybe you should have started from the basics before you tried anything fancy."

"Perhaps."

The door to the workshop opened, revealing Reginald Barclay. "How are things coming with Lal?" the lieutenant asked as he set aside his field bag.

"We're getting there, Reg. How are things with you?" La Forge asked in turn.

"Quite good," he admitted. "It was actually quite stimulating helping the Terran members of the ship's propulsion systems team better understand the systems they have to master on this ship so they can pass on that knowledge to their shipmates and the others of the E.D.F." A chuckle escaped him. "Still, it wasn't all one-way. I managed to get quite a good safety lecture from Chief Petty Officer Dillard on the use of gas turbine engines; he was assigned to a surface destroyer, the _Iroquois_, as Chief Engine Room Artificer before getting posted on _Haida_. Lieutenants . . . " – La Forge was quick to note that his shipmate was using the proper British-based pronunciation of the rank title, _**LEF-ten-ant**_, which was used in the Canadian Armed Forces in lieu of the American-style _**LOO-ten-ant**_ used in Starfleet – " . . . Ishida and Honjō were quite happy to show me all the system details about the ship's main reactor systems and power dynamos. I think we could even try to adopt such systems into our own starships."

"Really?" _Enterprise_'s chief engineer exclaimed. "Well, as soon as this is all over with, we'll have to get a research team on this to see if it can be used."

"I've already transmitted my findings to the ship's main computer."

The door to the workshop then opened, revealing Mayumi's fellow air operations private, Sunaga Tomomi (who planned to become a fire fighter, which would allow her to become part of _Haida_'s ship's company as noting the ship's crest over her nametag; as an ATIS technician, Mayumi herself was seen as part of the headquarters unit of 21 Space Wing), who was escorting a smiling brown-haired Terran junior grade lieutenant in operations gold. She was carrying a small case with her. "It's done," Robin Lefler announced.

"Let me see it," Mayumi ordered.

The case was handed over as Tomomi exchanged a nod with Mayumi before she turned and departed the workshop. Opening it, the bespectacled brown-eyed woman with the shaggy, green-highlighted black hair gazed on the small crystal inside before curtly nodding in approval. "Quite sufficient, Lieutenant Lefler. You did follow the exact instructions given to your team on the synthesizing of this material?"

A nod. "To the letter, including exposing it to the hydroponic gardens for an hour to give it a natural 'link' so that it can grow new molecules," Lefler reported before she smirked. "This atom totally twists around all our understanding of atomic physics a hundred-and-eighty degrees. Our quantum mechanics department and the ship's engineers have some samples in hand and are going crazy studying the potential energy dynamics right now. Everyone there from Lieutenant Farrell and Lieutenant Ziff on down are just looking at all the readouts and saying 'Oh, my!' every chance they get!"

Laughter filled the room. "Well, Robin, you tell Dendrie and Anaanda to be careful with that stuff," La Forge stated. "Remember all the warnings Nagisa and Arisa gave us about making the ebony version of mesonium. We don't need _that_ loose."

"I'll make sure of it personally, Commander." She then hummed as she crossed her arms. "I think I just made a new entry into Lefler's Laws."

"And what is that, Lieutenant?" Data asked.

"'Anything you believe about any subject can easily be disproved.'"

"A wise observation, Lieutenant Lefler," Mayumi then stated as she finished examining the sample of diamond-pattern mesonium (or "diamond meson") in a nearby quantum scanner. "After all, within the expanse of the _Te'a_, all is possible."

Data perked. "That is the seventh time I have heard that term since coming aboard _Haida_, Private Asai. Would you please explain what '_Te'a_' actually means?"

She smiled. "Are you familiar with the theories of Master Lǎozǐ?"

"I am."

"The _Te'a_ – the word itself is Sagussan, translating 'That Which Is Above mortal understanding' – is an energy field that all those descent of Sagussan genetics can sense within their minds," she stated as she extracted the mesonium crystal made on _Enterprise_ and moved to place it in a sterile holding unit before she took one of the memory chips that Data had prepared from the information he had downloaded from Lal's mind after her final cascade failure and held it against the crystal. As the visitors from _Enterprise_ watched, the crystal began to glow as the information within the chip was sensed and taken in. "Because of my ability to sense the ebb and flow of the _Te'a_, I knew right away you possessed what we would address as _mei'na_. In other words, the living soul of a sentient being." As the human guests gaped and the lone android just blinked, she added, "In our philosophy, the _Te'a_ exists in all things. Without It, nothing can exist. Thus, our philosophy shares a kinship with the theories of Master Lǎozǐ as he put them forth in the _Dàodéjīng_ concerning the existence of the state of Non-Being and how such has to exist to ensure the state of Being can also exist."

The visitors from _Enterprise_ were nodding. "To reiterate, in your theory, nothing can exist without being touched by the _Te'a_, correct?" Data asked.

"Correct. From what I sensed of her, Healer Lieutenant Selar seems to have the innate ability to partially sense the _Te'a_ with her own mind. I did not realise Vulcans possessed such an ability. Perhaps other races in your Federation possess similar abilities yet do not fully understand That which they sense."

Silence fell as a knowing smile then crossed La Forge's face. "Much that I personally hate to say it to you, Private, you made a little mistake there."

Hearing that, Mayumi paused, and then she sighed as she slipped off her glasses. "I do apologise for that, Geordi-san," she said in Japanese; it had been shown earlier that the sub-coetaneous universal translators inserted into the bodies of Starfleet service personnel could work in the environment of _Haida_ with her own on-board universal translator fields. "But understand that I am under orders – orders given under great regret – from Hiromi-onēsama concerning how we know about your universe, all of you along the way and what has happened to you." A sigh. "Not to mention what might happen to you in the near future." She felt a tear appear in her eye. "We do not have laws concerning this. You people do. And it is simply adhering to the principles of both _giri_ and _ninjō_ that forces us to acknowledge those laws."

"The Prime Directive and the Temporal Prime Directive, you mean?" Barclay said.

"Hai."

"But how's that possible?" Lefler asked.

"I believe I have an answer."

Eyes locked on Data. "What is that, Sensei?" Mayumi asked.

The android perked. "Mayumi!" he called out before catching himself, and then he took a deep breath. "Much that I do appreciate the show of respect, you do not need to address me as _that_!" As the others all laughed, he turned to his shipmates. "What exactly did Mayumi say when she spoke of the _Te'a_ just now?" he asked.

Barclay's brown eyes widened. "'Within the expanse of the _Te'a_, all is possible,'" he then stated, quoting their host exactly.

"Exactly." Data then pointed to the crystal that Lefler had brought in from the _Enterprise_. "Look what Mayumi is doing right now. Does it not tell you something?"

The engineers looked, and then Lefler laughed. "She's allowing all the data you acquired from Lal's central processors to be replicated into that crystal!"

"Indeed."

"Data, are you saying that it somehow is possible for our life experiences to be reflected through the _Te'a_ into Mayumi's universe?" La Forge asked.

"It's the right theory. And much that I would like to prove it to you . . . "

Eyes locked on Mayumi as she gave them an apologetic smile. "In doing so, you may find yourself charged under the National Defence Act for disobeying the direct order of a superior officer," Data concluded with a knowing smile in return. "Then I suggest this, Mayumi: Perhaps you can identify something of YOUR universe that might not be known in our universe." He then stopped before chuckling. "An unworkable theory."

"Actually, it IS a workable theory," Mayumi stated, and then she hummed. "Data-san, tell me this: When were you finally activated on Omicron Theta?"

"Equivalent Earth date was the second of February in 2338."

"When did you start your first year at Starfleet Academy?"

"The sixth of September in 2341."

"So what did you do for the intervening time?"

"After I was located by the U.S.S. _Tripoli_, I was taken to Earth where Captain Thórsson's wife Thrúethr Sifsdóttir took me in and let me live in Reykjavík. There I remained until I was invited to San Francisco to perform the entrance examinations for the Academy," Data explained, and then he chuckled. "I was considered so unique that all the children in the city found me quite intriguing. So they constantly flocked to the captain's residence with books, holovideos and everything else they could grasp to expose me to whatever they knew as a way of making me better understand humanity."

"What sort of books?" Mayumi then asked.

Data hummed. "Well, mostly children's literature . . . "

"Name some prominent titles."

"_Le Morte d'Arthur_, the fairy tales of Charles Perrault, _Songs of Innocence and of Experience_, the works of the Brothers Grimm, the works of Hans Christian Andersen, _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, _Heidi_, _The Adventures of Pinocchio_, _Treasure Island_, _The Jungle Book_, _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_, _The Tale of Peter Rabbit_, the works of Sir James Matthew Barrie, the works of Alan Alexander Milne, the works of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the _Little House on the Prairie_ series, _The Chronicles of Narnia_, the works of Theodor Seuss, the early graphic novels based on the characters of Superman and other such 'superheroes' as they became commonly known in North America, the _Harry Potter_ series, some of the more prominent Japanese manga series created by Tezuka Osamu, Ishinomori Shōtarō and . . . "

"Stop! Wait!"

Eyes locked on Mayumi. "What?" Barclay asked.

The prospective aerospace telecommunications and information systems technician smiled. "You just hit it, Data-san: Harry Potter." She then turned to a nearby data access terminal. "Computer, access government personnel information files for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Specific department: Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic." She was quick to sense the shock and surprise in her guests' hearts – even Data's – as she added, "Display information file concerning the following officer of the department in question: The Most Honourable the Marquess Harold James of the Noble and Most Ancient Magical Houses of Potter of Taunton Deane and Black of Grimmauld, retired inspector-captain in Her Majesty's Corps of Magical Law Aurors, currently serving as the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Graduate of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, NEWT Class of 1998."

Silence.

"That's not possible . . .!" Lefler breathed out.

"_Basic information on subject displayed_," the ship's computer called out.

Eyes turned to the screen at the terminal, and then the visitors from _Enterprise_ all gaped. "Damn!" La Forge breathed out. "He looks almost like . . .!"

"The actor who played him in the first series of films," Barclay finished for his department leader, and then snapped his fingers. "Daniel Radcliffe!"

"The very same, Reg. Though you will notice the actual physical difference between Mister Radcliffe and Mister Potter. The eyes, especially," Data noted.

"That's right! The novels said Harry had green eyes," Lefler stated.

They exchanged looks before turning back to Mayumi, who had a knowing smile on her face as she moved to process the last memory chip into the mesonium crystal. "I believe we can stop speaking of this subject at this time, Mayumi," Data then stated. "Though you do understand that we must report this to Captain Picard."

"Well, don't go to the _Enterprise_ just yet!" Mayumi then advised.

The others blinked, and then they laughed, even Data . . .

* * *

Flag officer's quarters . . .

"That does not disturb you, My Emperor?"

"No, Kōmei-dono. It actually gives me a sense of hope."

Hearing that, Morokuzu Ryōko smiled. She stood at the window of the reborn emperor's personal living room, gazing at the passing star field and the _Enterprise_, which hovered at five kilometres' distance from _Haida_'s starboard side. The people there had quietly monitored the events in the Special Systems Workshop through Hiromi's own back-door access to the internal security monitors. Also present along with Ki Tsukihana's other guests from Japan was Captain Douglas Tremblay, who – atop his being _Haida_'s senior ranking member of the Canadian Forces Military Police aboard at this time – was also a member of U.S.S. _James Durand_, a _Star Trek_ fan club that had been formed in the city of Hamilton in Ontario two decades before and had experienced a massive upswing in new club membership in the wake of _Haida_'s commissioning into the Canadian Navy. "We are so determined to change our own fates that we find it easy to fall into the gross temptation of helping others change theirs, believing we are doing the right thing. And in many ways, we would be doing the right thing in this case. We know the general situation and we know the risks we run, especially considering that an innocent race of bystanders who have no knowledge of the events in their own heavens face extinction if Soran is allowed to run amuck as he will at Amargosa and Veridian."

"How soon with the sensors be able to detect the Nexus?" Koeru Kumomi then asked. "If we are days away from the first stellar detonation at Amargosa . . .?"

"I'm having the long-range scanners search for it now, Onē-san," Tsukihana stated. All of the young genius' childhood friends from Seito had come to _Haida_ to celebrate Christmas with him; Hakaru Ayami's closest friends from the Kyoshō Academy like Tsukasa Torusuke had intended to do the same for New Years Day.

"We can still save Kirk-taisa, can't we?"

Eyes locked on Koro Sonami. Immediately, a hand covered in a fingerless glove landed on her shoulder. "We will," Seki Haneko said. "If indeed the Heavens are at our side, we will reunite him with Spock-taishi, McCoy-sensei and Scott-taisa."

Sonami beamed. "Do we know if the _Enterprise_-A is still around?" Haru Asumi asked. "The films and television series don't say anything about that! Anything that appears in books or Internet websites isn't really considered canon in this case!"

"No, we do not, but I do believe that it would be child's play to grant him a new commission on a different ship if he so requests it," Hiromi noted.

"Are we doing the right thing, though?" Asumi asked.

Eyes locked on Captain Tremblay. He took a deep breath. "This is so beyond my training, I can't even _begin_ to start speculating on what we should do," the military police officer noted. "On the one hand, we have the priority to get back into our own dimension as quickly as possible. On the other hand, we have knowledge – and let's set aside the question of whether or not it's accurate – about our friends' immediate futures, to say anything of their long-term futures!" A sigh. "Damn, there are _**no regulations**_ about something like this! At least THEY'VE got the regulations!"

"So we should just stand away and let Kirk-taisa die?" Sonami demanded.

He breathed out, "Sonami, I think that whole ending to _Generations_ is a ton of horsecrap, too! I was a damned _teenager_ when that movie first came out!" He shook his head. "But think about it! The man knew the risks putting on that uniform ultimately entailed! Hell, he probably understood it right from the day he mucked around with the _Kobayashi Maru_ programming when he was still at Starfleet Academy!"

"Still, we cannot – if the events here run exactly parallel to what was shown in that movie – allow Picard-taisa and Kirk-taisa to face Soran-sensei alone."

People gazed on Kumomi, and then they nodded. "Aye," Hiromi hissed . . .

. . . before the ship's intercom rang. "Special Systems Workshop to Director."

The reborn emperor tapped a control. "What is it, Mayumi-chan?"

"There's someone who wishes to give her thanks for helping heal her, Onē-sama," Asai Mayumi stated with a beaming smile in her voice.

A nod as the others present all grinned. "We'll be down there right away," Hiromi stated . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_, the captain's ready room, a half-hour later . . .

"Are you serious?"

"Very serious, Captain. As a matter of fact, Director Moroboshi actually had the pleasure of meeting him in London at the Leaky Cauldron shortly after their first mission to the planet Yaminokuni." Here, Reginald Barclay then smiled. "When she was commissioned, _Haida_'s British sistership H.M.S. _Hood_ was brought into the Royal Navy by the Prince of Wales in the sky right over downtown London, close to Tower Bridge. As you'll remember from the books, the Leaky Cauldron . . . "

"Is on Charing Cross Road, which is not that far away," Jean-Luc Picard finished for the engineer, who was standing in front of his desk. The captain himself was gazing out the portals at the star field; the aft end of _Haida_ was quite visible from his present position as the Canadian starship kept pace with the Federation vessel en route to Starbase 105. "I remember reading those books when I was a child back in France. Still remember them even now, all these years later." A shake of his head. "And to believe that in their universe, Harry Potter is _real_!" He returned to his desk. "You noted some discrepancies between the books and what you learned from Private Asai and the _Haida_'s records of Director Moroboshi's contact with Mister Potter," he then commented.

"Yes, sir. Several of them. First of all, if you'll recall the epilogue of _Deathly Hallows_, Harry was reported to have eventually married Ginny Weasley. In _Haida_'s universe, Director Potter is actually married to two women, two of his former year-mates from Hogwarts: Mandy Brocklehurst of Ravenclaw and Pansy Parkinson of Slytherin. As he is the heir of not just his birth family but also of the Black family, he became the holder of two top-tier seats in the British Wizengamot, though he could not vote those seats as he is also a standing Ministry official as head of their magical law enforcement department. The laws in that society do allow multiple-spouse marriages when it comes to landed gentry inheritences involving the Wizengamot. Mandy, who serves as Lady Potter in this case, would vote the Potter family seat as his proxy. Pansy, as Lady Black, votes that family seat."

Picard nodded. "So the people on _Haida_ know of us through some sort of science or speculative fictional story in their universe, which – if Data's theory is correct, supported by the evidence Private Asai gave – reflected through this energy field Avalonians can sense in their minds? Similar to the Vulcan concept of _a'Tha_?"

"That is the theory Data and Miss Asai came up with," Barclay answered. "And because of the discrepancy from the _Harry Potter_ novels in our universe compared to the events in their universe, that seems to have forced the crew of _Haida_ to be _extra_ cautious when it came to revealing what they know of us and what our missions were like."

"What have you sensed about this, Counsellor?" the captain then wondered.

Deanna Troi, who had been sitting on the couch near the aquarium where Picard kept his pet lionfish Livingston, took a deep breath. "The Avalonian members of _Haida_'s crew are fully aware of what is going on. Much that they are quite powerful psionically in comparison to Vulcans or full-blooded Betazoids, they also are quite open in expressing their emotions and being quite open with the use of their powers in comparison to Vulcans." A pause. "They seem somewhat agitated whenever they reflect on _Enterprise_ or any of her crew. Those who've come aboard and spent time in Ten-Forward or in any of the laboratories or computer libraries seem to _want_ to do anything to make sure we're safe." Another pause. "The Terran members of the ship's company and the detached formations assigned to support her also are aware of what is going on, but they have much various levels of military discipline – depending on their length of service – to fall back onto to allow them to control themselves. Yet, there are people who are also quite concerned over what is happening to use; Captain Tremblay being one of the more prominent examples of that particular situation." She shrugged. "All I could conclude from this is that somehow, they feel something very big is about to happen to us. As to what . . . "

"They want to tell us, but believe that because we adhere so much to the Prime Directive and the Temporal Prime Directive, to give us that information would bring dishonour what we are willing to do to assist them," Worf, who stood close to the door leading to the bridge, stated. "In their eyes, it would be a violation of both _giri_ and _ninjō_, even if in the latter aspect, their knowledge of potential future events is causing them great distress." He sighed. "I believe we are going into battle."

"Can you be sure of that, Worf?" William Riker asked.

The Klingon gazed at his superior officer, and then he nodded. "Yes. You may feel it alarmist, Commander, but if what I now understand of tōshi such as Director Moroboshi and Miss Morokuzu is true, their experience acquired over their many lifetimes gives them an accurate sixth sense when it comes to potential danger."

"But what could it be?" Troi asked.

Before anyone could answer that, the doorbell chimed. "Come!" Picard called out.

The door swooped open, revealing a smiling Data. "Captain."

"Data, what . . .?"

Picard's voice caught in his throat as someone stepped in before the second officer walked inside, dressed now in a rather plain jumpsuit in lieu of the burgundy gown with the purple shawl she had worn after her outer skin had been fashioned in the way she had chosen. On seeing her, Troi gasped as Worf and Riker both grinned. "LAL!" the empath called out as the younger android walked into the room.

Lal smiled as the counsellor came over to embrace her. "Hello, Aunt Deanna."

Everyone perked. "'Aunt Deanna?'" Troi asked as she pulled away from Lal.

A shy smile crossed the young android's face. "I must apologise. Before the mesonium crystal bearing the core of my _mei'na_ was inserted into my central processing matrix to restore me to proper function, there was a brief moment of contact between my _mei'na_ and Mayumi's _mei'na_ through her fingertips. It appears that certain elements of Japanese social norms – which Mayumi was programmed to adhere to on her creation and activation – have become fixed within my own ethical programming. As you are Father's friend and co-worker, addressing you as an unofficial 'aunt' would be seen as proper." She then gazed on Riker. "I do believe, Uncle William, I owe you an apology."

The first officer perked. "An apology? For what?"

"For forcibly kissing you in Ten-Forward."

Riker blinked, and then he smiled. "You're forgiven, Lal."

"You seem to understand much more about human behaviour now," Troi noted. "Was this totally from that contact between your mind and Private Asai's?"

"Yes. It was only for 7.14 seconds, but in that time, I learned so many things." Lal then sighed as a touch of regret crossed her face. "Such as fully understanding why the other children aboard the ship did not desire to play with me because of my uniqueness and my apparent physical maturity in comparison to any of them." She then shrugged. "It is a pity that as an android, I cannot mature as a bioroid such as Mayumi can mature." She paused. "Perhaps . . . "

"Perhaps what?" Data asked.

She gazed at him. "Perhaps we should find a way of requesting information on the construction of bioroids from the Avalonians aboard _Haida_."

The second officer considered that, and then he hummed. "While it would be a most intriguing avenue of study, Captain Picard has directed ordered that any direct knowledge of how Avalonians are created is _**not**_ to be acquired at this time."

Lal perked, and then she gazed at the captain. "I do not understand."

"It is the rather ugly potential of such knowledge's abuse that concerned me in that case, Lal," Picard explained. As she gazed on him, Troi was quick to sense that he knew something more about this subject, but was under personal oath to not speak of it to other people. "Much that I understand how much the Avalonians themselves are guarding against the abuse of the capabilities the factory that created them can grant, the great advantage our visitors possess is that, in their time period, it's localised to one location: The factory itself. That allows them to keep it contained even if the risk is still there. In our case, it could easily spread across the whole galaxy."

She considered that, and then she nodded. "I comprehend that, Uncle Jean-Luc, but . . . " A shrug then twitched her shoulder. "What if the time comes when I myself wish to become a mother?" she then asked, which made Data gasp in shock as he stared wide-eyed at her. "Are you alright, Father?" she asked as she gazed at him.

"You're not considering that NOW, are you?" he demanded.

"Of course not!" she answered. "Even if I now possess a lot of knowledge and understanding when it comes to relations between sentient beings in an intimate matter for the purposes of cohabitation and the propagation of species which is quite natural among organic sentients, I have yet to locate a potential mate. Furthermore, I doubt – given that I was properly restored to full function only 22.9 minutes ago – I will commence the search for such a person anytime soon." As the people around the androids tried not to smirk too much on seeing the chronologically younger Lal making such a mature assertion, she then gave her father a smile. "Much that I do understand your desire and willingness to be a single parent, Father, I do not wish to emulate that choice."

"I would hope not!" he asserted.

That did it; the others in the room – even Worf! – broke out in laughter, which made Data and Lal blink as they gazed on them. "Father, did I say something humorous?" the latter then asked before she gazed once more at her father.

The laughter increased . . .

* * *

Ten-Forward . . .

"WHAT happened?"

Reginald Barclay was still snickering as both Geordi La Forge and Robin Lefler were trying not to fall off their stools busting a gut. Only Asai Mayumi – who had come with the others from _Haida_ to accompany Lal back aboard _Enterprise_ – remained calm, though she did smile as she sipped her spring water. "Oh, Guinan! You had to have seen it to believe it!" the systems engineer stated before drinking his synthehol. "There she is, not even a half-hour after Mayumi makes her fully operational again . . . and she's practically promising Data that he's going to be a grandfather one of these days! And he looked like he was about to blow every central processor in his mind!"

Guinan shook her head as the engineers all laughed on that, and then she gazed on the Terran-form Avalonian air technician seated with them. "What did you do?"

"All I did was touch her soul-crystal for a little over seven seconds," Mayumi stated as she finished her drink, and then handed the glass to Ben Beatty so he could give her a refill. "Obviously, when my own soul was augmented by the Dragon Jade back in July, it – atop allowing me to better make use of the knowledge I was initially programmed with to make me as an exact a replica of my video game namesake – enhanced my _mei'na_ to the point where I could, if I'm not too careful, grossly influence someone's mind much to their detriment. I must ask Hiromi-onēsama if it is possible for those of us who were augmented so to obtain some specialised training from Thoughtmistress-prime Negako to help us better master these abilities."

"What's the 'Dragon Jade?'" Ben asked.

"A crystal forged of a mixture of all three forms of meson, jade, ambergris and pure amber created over seventeen hundred years ago by the second reincarnation of Thoughtmaster-prime Zuǒ Cí, who is known among tōshi as 'Saji Genpō' and was reincarnated in our time period as a young yet quite psionically powerful lady named Hidari Mijiko," Mayumi explained. "It was infused with enormous amounts of energy as it exchanged hands over the following years, acquiring the reputation by our time period that possessing the Jade would give any tōshi the power to alter his or her 'fate,' which they believed forced them to relive their past-selves' lives as they were lived during the last years of the Latter Hàn Dynasty and the following Three Kingdoms era. The Jade was eventually located in Hong Kong, then employed by Thoughtmistress-prime Negako to liberate the amnesiac souls of tōshi that had been trapped for up to a century in an enchanted forest north of Nanban High School – a total of 31,738 sentients – then allowed to be infused with all the Avalonians then serving in the Earth Defence Force at the time to help us become more human in the end."

"You speak so easily of such things, Private Asai," a strange voice stated.

"Hey, Taurik! Usual?" Ben asked.

"Please," the raven-haired Vulcan engineer ensign stated as he took a seat beside Mayumi and the others. "How is Lal adjusting to being fully active again, Commander?" he then asked La Forge. "Many in the department are concerned for her."

"She's doing a lot better, thanks very much to Mayumi here," the chief engineer said as he nodded at the lone Canadian air force private with them. "Right now, she's in Data's lab as he and Miss Hakaru run her through every test they can think of to make sure the meson crystal in her central processor won't end up hurting her."

"As long as it remains as is, it should be alright," Mayumi stated.

Taurik nodded. "Private Asai, I have a question."

"Ask, please."

"I noticed that many of the members of _Haida_'s ship's company bear the ship's heraldic crest on their naval combat jackets over their nametags, as well as a visually very aesthetically pleasing ship's unit identification tag on the base of their rank epaulette slip-ons. Yet I do not see that on your jacket; you only bear the basic national identifier. Are you not considered part of the ship's company?"

"Truthfully, no. Currently, I am listed as a non-trained serviceman in the headquarters unit of 21 Space Wing. As I plan to train as an aerospace telecommunications and information systems technician, I will eventually help establish a new squadron which will fall under administrative command of 21 Space Wing and operational command of the commanding officer of H.M.C.S. _Haida_ after I graduate from Level 3 trades training at the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics in Kingston in Ontario. The unit will be known as 21 Air Communication and Control Squadron; '**21 ACCS**' for short. Once the unit is properly established and a squadron badge is granted in the name of Her Majesty the Queen by His Excellency the Governor General of Canada through the Canadian Heraldic Authority, I will then be allowed to bear the squadron badge over my name tag and the unit identification tag on my epaulettes." She then glanced over to a spot to the starboard of the lounge's large viewing windows. "Look there."

People looked. "Who is she?" Lefler asked.

"Triela Hilshire," Mayumi explained. "One of the girls who elected to become an infantry soldier when we chose potential military careers about a month before _Haida_ was formally commissioned. Even if she has yet to undergo basic infantry training at the Land Forces Québec Area Training Centre, she is considered part of the Canadian Guards, so she will wear the proper regimental badges on her beret, epaulette slip-ons and the collars of her dress uniform jacket, not to mention bear the regimental buttons on that jacket as well as the metal shoulder titles on the epaulettes of that jacket. As the 1st Battalion of the Guards is seen as administratively part of the 2nd Canadian Mechanised Brigade Group, she has the right to wear the brigade group patch on her upper arm, both on the dress uniform jacket and her naval combat dress jacket."

"The gold arrowhead badge with the bear on it," Taurik stated.

"Yes."

"But if she's not fully trained, why wear all those badges?" Lefler asked. "I read in the history packet about the Canadian Armed Forces that once a recruit finally passes the Basic Military Qualification course at the Leadership and Recruit School, you're only allowed to wear the 'cornflake' badge on your beret and nothing else."

"Well, that's what you get for being programmed as a human killing machine."

Silence.

"What?" La Forge gasped as all save Taurik gaped; the Vulcan engineer – quite typically for his race, Mayumi mused to herself – arched an eyebrow.

"When I was created, I was physically based on and named after a sports video game character," Mayumi explained. "The character of Asai Mayumi appeared in the 1998 game _Doki Doki Pretty League_, where the player serves as the manager of an all-girl's amateur baseball team. That Mayumi, atop being an inventive genius, was also the team's second baseman. Thus when I was initially created, I was programmed with all the technical knowledge I would require to support my so-called 'master' – who owned his own star cruiser – as well as play professional American-style baseball. Other characters from the game were replicated in the same manner. Five of them are members of _Haida_'s ship's company. One is an ammunition technician who will be assigned to 2 Service Battalion's forward service company in support of the 1st Battalion of the Guards. Three more will be part of 21 Air Maintenance Squadron, which is the first-line equipment repair support unit for 21 Wing. And then, there is myself."

"Doesn't that anger you in some way?" Barclay wondered.

"No," Mayumi answered. "Reg-san, had I been woken and abused as many older sisters were by their former 'masters,' then the chances are there that I would bear some anger and hatred for them. But I – as well as all the other Avalonians who formed the controlling organic element for _Haida_ before her commissioning – were woken _after_ Tsukihana-oniisama and Ayami-onēsama rescued us from our would-be 'master.'"

"What happened to him?" Guinan wondered.

"He was deprived of his ship and forced into a space lifeboat, sent floating towards Phentax Twenty-three," Mayumi answered. "At the time it happened, neither Onii-sama or Onē-sama were aware of what the Noukiites and the Yehisrites were doing over Phentax Twelve; both events happened simultaneously. They could have killed him, but given their youth even if they were tōshi, neither of them was quite comfortable with that option. So they decided to make him effectively poorer by taking his 'toys' – namely us – away from him."

"Like that man who kidnapped Commander Data that one time," Taurik noted.

"Ah, yes! Kivas Fajo, you mean." Mayumi then hummed. "He would have much in common with the man who created my body and shaped it as he did, wouldn't he?"

The others grinned save Taurik, who gave the private a knowing look. "Mayumi, that was another slip-up," La Forge warned.

"But it concerned a past event, Commander. I do not believe Private Asai is disobeying orders by speaking of that particular incident," Taurik noted.

The others nodded. "So what about Guardsman Hilshire?" Barclay asked.

"'Guardsman?'" Lefler asked.

"Robin, her regiment is officially called 'the Regiment of Canadian Guards,'" he reminded her. "Guards infantry regiments in the British Commonwealth tradition always refer to their privates as 'guardsmen.' Other special infantry regiments – not to mention the armoured, artillery, engineers and other services – did the same thing."

"Oh!"

"Well, Triela – and nine others like her, also all guardsmen – are based on characters of a manga and anime series called _Gunslinger Girl_, which began to be published in 2002. It depicts a story where, in the Italy of my time period, a secret government organisation takes orphaned girls – all underage – who are medically incapacitated, wounded or diseased and transforms them into cyborg warriors. The conversion process wipes out the memories of their past lives, plus forces them into an emotionally addictive state that made them easy to control by '_fratello_,' who direct them in battle against terrorists, criminals and other such malcontents." Mayumi glanced at Triela, who was gazing out the portals at the passing star field. "Fortunately for our Triela and her sisters in the Guards, our would-be 'master' didn't have paedophilic tendencies, so he had them created as young adults and not children." She noted the profound disapproval the others felt on hearing that. "But they were all programmed in a dozen standard martial arts forms as well as programmed to understand various forms of modern firearms on many worlds. A beautiful – and lethal – piece of 'eye candy' to have available in case our 'master' was threatened by potential rivals or enemies."

"Well, that explains Worf."

Eyes locked on Ben. "What do you mean, Ben?" Lefler asked.

The dark-skinned bartender grinned. "When the guardsmen and the military police came aboard from _Haida_, all of them were really friendly and open with our security people right to Worf himself," he explained. "Except for her and the nine others Mayumi just told us about. They were even colder than a Vulcan that just finished _Kolinahr_ training at Gol. You should had seen how T'Kasha reacted when she was on shift and serving drinks when Elsa de Sica was standing watch where Triela is now. Worf was here enjoying lunch and he saw that, then went over to talk to her." Ben shook his head. "She really rattled him. Nothing impolite, abrupt or anything like that, but she was as cold as deep space with him. It really hit him."

Mayumi hummed. "Let me go talk to her, Ben-san."

She took up her flute of spring water and walked over to join the dusky-skinned, blonde, blue-eyed infantry soldier standing by the windows. Triela perked on sensing Mayumi approach, and then she sighed as she looked out into the stars again. "«We have a problem,»" she then whispered in Sagussan, which made the aerospace technician blink.

"«What?»"

"«Elder Mother Guinan. Can't you sense it?»"

Mayumi blinked, and then looked at Guinan, who was busy making a chocolate sundae for a smiling Deanna Troi, who had just come into the lounge. Allowing her brown eyes to narrow as she gazed on the older woman, Mayumi reached out with her empathy . . . and then felt her skin slightly pale. "Oh, Lyna . . .!"

"«That may complicate manners,»" Triela whispered . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES:  
**

1) **Memory Alpha** is a planetoid that housed a massive library complex which contained an archive of the total cultural and scientific knowledge of all members of the United Federation of Planets. It was first introduced in the original _Star Trek_ third-season episode "The Lights of Zetar." According to _Star Trek Star Charts_, the planetoid is located twenty light years away from the Sol system in Alpha Quadrant ("in-spin" of Earth in Earth Defence Force lingo).

2) The **Special Committee on Alien Activities**, as I've mentioned in other stories, is the "official" name of the organisation known more commonly as the **Men in Black** (as first written about by Lowell Cunningham in the comic book series of the same name that first appeared in 1990, then later depicted in the films starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones).

3) The **Imperial Houses of the Seifukusu Dominion** were first introduced in _The Senior Year_ story "Surprise, Darling! You're A Father!" I based the Seifukusu on the Imperial Uruseians as they appeared in the fanfic series _Just a Dream_ and _Still Dreaming_ by Lew Burton, which appeared in the mid-1990s and is archived at RAAC.

4) Translations: **Katra** – one's living spirit; **Lǎozǐ** – the Hànyǔ Pīnyīn way of writing the name of the founder of Taoism, **Lao Tzu**; **Dàodéjīng** – the Hànyǔ Pīnyīn way of writing the name of Master Lǎozǐ's most famous work, the **Tao Te Ching**; **Taisa** – Navy captain, Army colonel, Air Force group captain; **Taishi** – Ambassador; **a'Tha** – literally "The Other," which is the term Vulcans use to describe the sense of Divine Immanence they can perceive with their minds (note that this is a term that was introduced in Diane Duane's novel _Spock's World_); **Fratello** – Brother.

5) **Asai Mayumi** and **Sunaga Tomomi** both appeared in the video game _Doki Doki Pretty League_, which (as noted above) was released in 1998 by XING for the PlayStation platform. Mayumi, as she revealed to everyone later, is the second baseman of the team that the player character must coach. Tomomi, who serves as the samurai-like character in the story, is the team's centre fielder.

6) **Robin Lefler** appeared in two _TNG_ television episodes, the fifth-season episodes "Darmok" and "The Game." She would also become a prominent character in the novel series _Star Trek - New Frontier_, written by Peter David, which first began to appear in 1997. Of course, Robin is very well known for her personal aphorisms, collected together as "Lefler's Laws."

7) **Dendrie Farrell** appeared in the _TNG_ seventh-season episode "Phantasms." She never had a given name mentioned in that story; I used the given name of the actress that portrayed her, Dendrie Taylor. **Anaanda Ziff** was mentioned in the seventh-season episode "Eye of the Beholder." **Ben Beatty** appeared in the seventh-season episode "Lower Decks." He never had a family name in that episode, so I used the family name of the actor that portrayed him, Bruce Beatty. **Taurik** also appeared in "Lower Decks." **Kivas Fajo** appeared in the third-season episode "The Most Toys." And **T'Kasha** is the name I give to the unnamed Vulcan waitress who was depicted working in Ten Forward in _Generations_.

8) **Giri** and **Ninjō** are sometimes diametrically opposite yet also complimentary feelings which govern relations between people in Japanese society. Giri ("social obligation") forces those who adhere to it to acknowledge and oblige whatever social structures – and their place in it – they are a part of at any particular time. Ninjō ("human emotion/compassion") springs up whenever a person feels in conflict with whatever obligations giri enforces on him/her. In the case described in this part, the people of _Haida_ – in knowing _Enterprise_'s history through _The Next Generation_ – feel the urge to help them come through the possible events in _Generations_ as unharmed as possible . . . but knowing that the Starfleet personnel – who hold the Prime Directive (and by extension, the Temporal Prime Directive) as their supreme law – may feel conflicted in listening to information which could change the future flow of their own history.

9) The **National Defence Act** is the primary legal code set over all personnel, civilian and military, serving in the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. The current law on the books is published as part of the 1985 revision of the **Revised Statutes of Canada**. The specific section of the Act that Mayumi might have been charged under if she had directly revealed what she knew about the Federation's universe would be covered under Paragraph 83, which reads "_Every person who disobeys a lawful command of a superior officer is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to imprisonment for life or to less punishment._"

10) **James Durand** (1775-1833) was a prominent businessman and political figure in Upper Canada (modern-day southern Ontario). He was one of the early prominent business figures and political officials to help found the city of Hamilton.

11) **Triela Hilshire** and **Elsa de Sica**, as Mayumi mentioned above, both were characters in the manga and anime series _Gunslinger Girl_, created by Aida Yū in 2002. Triela's family name was taken from that of her namesake's handler in the story, Victor Hilshire. Elsa, of course, was based on a character who had a family name in _Gunslinger Girl_.

12) The **cornflake badge** is a gold-plated badge made in the image of the emblem of the Canadian Forces as a whole: A gold-trimmed blue oval with the tri-service badge (a gold fouled anchor under crossed crusader swords with silver blades and golden hilts, that in turn under a gold falcon with the head turned to the right as seen by the viewer) over it, the whole surrounded by a wreath of ten maple leaves (representing the ten provinces of the Dominion) and topped by Saint Edward's Crown.


	4. Guinan's Pain

Seated at her table as she was about to greedily dig into one of Guinan's masterpiece sundaes, Troi smiled . . . and then she paused as a mixed wave of emotions – horror, shock, anguish, pity, frustration – flooded her like an incoming Fundy tide from somewhere to her right. Looking to starboard, she was quick to see one of the guardsmen who had come over from _Haida_ – Triela Hilshire; the counsellor actually found hers and her sister guardsmen's collective reserve and control quite refreshing compared to the partial child-like exuberance of their sisters, which nearly intoxicated her at close range – standing there, now holding the hand of a shuddering Asai Mayumi, who looked almost on the verge of breaking down and crying. Stunned to feel something like _that_ from the woman who had pretty much helped Lal get her life back again, the counsellor instantly stood and walked over to where the two Avalonians were standing. "Mayumi, are you alright?"

Mayumi looked up into the empath's face, and then she blinked. "No . . .!"

Before Troi could ask a question, Triela shifted herself to gently grasp her hand. The counsellor – who understood how Avalonian telepathy worked; it was practically the same as what Vulcans were blessed with – braced herself for a powerful surge of words into her mind . . . and then blinked, quite surprised by the soft and calm flow of energy from the contact point with Triela's fingertips: «I may be well-programmed to break things, Healer Troi, but I can be gentle, too.»

Shocked by the humour in that mental voice, Troi focused on Triela. Despite the warmth of the latter's words and the gentleness of her telepathic probe, the half-Betazoid empath was still surprised by the kind smile now crossing the Terran-form Avalonian's face. «We sensed something very wrong with Elder Mother Guinan, Healer,» Triela advised her. «Unfortunately, it's got something to do with what we can't tell you about what you're future is about. Go finish your sundae, then tell your captain about this; it's nothing dangerous, but it's something we simply can't ignore or let pass by. I'll tell Hiromi-onēsama about this as soon as I get Mayumi calmed down.»

Troi blinked, and then she nodded. "Can it be healed?" she whispered.

Triela and Mayumi exchanged looks, and then the former winked. "It **_will_** be healed, Commander," she hissed back before smiling. "If you'll excuse us."

With that, the guardsman moved to escort the shuddering communications technician out of Ten-Forward. By then, Ben Beatty had come up to stand beside her. "Is Mayumi okay, Deanna?" the younger man asked as he stared at the counsellor.

A sigh. "She'll be fine. We'll talk about it later, alright."

He gazed at her, and then nodded; as a member of the Ten-Forward staff, he had long understood that certain things that were spoken in the lounge were **_not_** for public consumption. "Gotcha," he affirmed as he headed back to the bar . . .

* * *

The captain's ready room, a half-hour later . . .

"**_A DAMAGED SOUL?_**"

"Hai, Onē-sama! She's tried to heal herself since it happened, but . . .!"

Watching this from his position at the doorway leading to the bridge, Worf closed his eyes as he watched Triela shudder before a sob escaped her and her hands flew up to cover her face as she began to cry. Immediately, Master Warrant Officer Barry Romses – the company sergeant-major of the 1st Battalion's Number 2 Company and the senior non-commissioned member of the Canadian Guards aboard _Haida_ at the time of her transition into the Federation's universe – moved to comfort her. "That's enough, soldier," he whispered with the stern tenderness of a kind by strict father figure to the weeping girl. "You did good. You did good. Now pull yourself together . . . "

Triela slowly nodded as she moved to turn off the tears. Worf then turned to gaze on Elsa de Sica, a hazel-eyed blonde who wore her long hair in a wrapped braid behind her ears, now seated at the couch close to Jean-Luc Picard's fish tank. While her own eyes were moist, she was holding herself together with greater decorum than her sister guardsman; she currently sat at in an alert yet at ease pose. Also in the room were Asai Mayumi, Moroboshi Hiromi, Douglas Tremblay and Kevin Leclerc from _Haida_ as well as Deanna Troi and Beverly Crusher. "How could we have missed something like that when it came to Guinan?" _Enterprise_'s chief medical officer then asked.

"As she is a civilian, she's not subject to rigourous psychological evaluations as members of Starfleet are," Worf stated. "Given, Captain, that she is also your friend . . . "

Picard slowly nodded. "I never thought to ask her of these sorts of things," he admitted before turning to gaze on Hiromi, who was standing at the window gazing at the star field. "How much of this would be covered by what you can't inform us of?"

The reborn emperor took a deep breath. "Some things . . . " she admitted. "I'm still trying to figure out how far I can take this, though . . . "

"I recommend full disclosure when it specifically concerns her, Director."

Eyes locked on Tremblay. "That's been rather blunt, Doug," Leclerc noted.

"Kevin, she's helped this crew out ever since she became the chief bartender on this ship six years ago," the military police officer replied, that statement making all of the _Enterprise_ personnel grin as Elsa giggled and Mayumi laughed.

"Could we help heal her, at least?" Troi asked.

"No . . . "

Eyes locked on Triela. "Are you alright, Miss Hilshire?" Picard asked.

She gazed at him, and then shrugged. "Part of me believes that what your predecessors set out in General Order Number One and its temporal counterpart . . . was wise and well thought-out, sir," she then said before taking a deep breath. "But part of me wants to run down there, hug the Elder Mother and do everything I can to help heal her and make her whole again," she added before taking a deep breath and turning to gaze on the counsellor. "You can't help her, Deanna," she whispered. "You just can't _see_ this as I can. As any Avalonian could. So . . . " She then paused as she considered what to say, and then she took a deep breath. "If what we know of your immediate future is correct, Deanna, then **_yes_**! The Elder Mother **_can_** be healed!" A shrug then rolled her shoulders. "But, given the differences between information in your universe and information in my universe as witness what we all found out about Onē-sama's wizarding friend from England, the Marquess Potter . . . "

"That is a good point to make, Triela-chan," Hiromi then stated. "I will have to ask the good Director about this Miss Weasley when next I'm in Diagon Alley. I know why he grew apart from Miss Granger because of the whole matter concerning his wives, but . . . " A shake of the head. "Ah, enough of that!" A sigh. "There are things about the Lady Guinan we can tell you as they occurred many years ago, Captain. As to what we can do about it, we will have to wait for events in the near future to play themselves out."

"Please, Director, go ahead," Picard bade.

A deep breath. "Seventy-eight years ago in your timeline, the Lady Guinan was part of a group of over four hundred refugees on two vessels, the _Lakul_ and the _Robert Fox_, making their way towards Earth from their ravaged home star system," Hiromi stated. "Just as they were about to make system-fall beyond Pluto's orbit, they encountered a quite mysterious energy ribbon that had never been encountered before. One that ripped apart the _Fox_, killing all aboard . . . and nearly did the same thing to the _Lakul_ were it not for the intervention of a just-christened modified Excelsior-class ship that – despite missing many members of the crew and a lot of equipment that would not have been properly fitted until the following Tuesday – saved forty-seven of the 150 souls aboard at the time." A sigh. "The Lady Guinan being one of them."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"The _Enterprise_-B?" Worf asked.

"Yes," Triela hissed out, and then she nodded her thanks as Romses handed her a handkerchief in the colours of his old regiment, the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. "But that energy ribbon is much more than just a moving warp in space, Commander. It's also a gateway to a different dimension. One where the basic laws of space-time literally are turned on their very ear, made totally subject to the wishes of anyone who actually gains the chance to enter it." A sigh. "To paraphrase the Elder Mother's own words – at least from the source we have – it is like being within a constant state of eternal joy. A place where one never would desire to leave."

"Oh, my God . . . " Crusher breathed out. "I can't imagine such a place."

"We can, Doctor," Hiromi advised her. "If anyone who had suffered any form of tragedy find themselves within the Nexus, they would subconsciously create a world where such tragedies never happened in the first place." She sighed. "_Anyone_ who endured something like that." Watching her, the others from _Haida_ were amazed that the reborn emperor was able to keep control over herself and not look directly at their host on saying that. "For the El-Aurians at the time – having just watched their society be destroyed and their homeworld conquered at the hands of those oh-so-delightful Borg . . . " – people grinned on hearing the disgust and derision in her voice in speaking of the cybernetic race from the Delta Quadrant – " . . . to be placed in the Nexus most likely gave them the chance to re-live what they had lost."

"But what of those who were rescued?" Worf asked.

"Most likely, the logical conclusion is that when they were transported off the _Lakul_ to the _Enterprise_-B by Captain Scott, their _mei'na_ was inadvertently fragmented at that point," Elsa then spoke up. "In the source that we have, Commander, there was an echo of the Elder Mother's spirit within the Nexus when this was discovered."

"By us, you mean?"

She looked at Picard, and then she blushed. "Yes, sir."

He smiled. "Now you know why – even if we agree to those rules – the Prime Directive and the Temporal Prime Directive give us such headaches at times."

Laughter filled the room. "Well, hopefully, we will not have to concern ourselves with such things," Hiromi noted, and then she blinked. "Wait . . . "

Eyes locked on her. "Ma'am?" Tremblay asked.

A smile was slowly crossing her face. "My dear Lord Bailiff Tremblay," she said as she turned to gaze knowingly at the military police officer, ignoring the blush now crossing his face on her addressing him with such a classical title. Watching this, Romses, Troi and Crusher failed to hide their smirks while Worf was confused, Leclerc was wisely keeping silent – so as to not be addressed as a "Noble Knight Captain" as was Hiromi's want whenever she got into _these_ moods – Mayumi, Triela and Elsa remained quite calm, and Picard was gaping in shock at her. "I would desire you wise expertise in this current situation," she declared. "We have learned – with the most wonderful assistance of Master Data – that whatever information and knowledge that passes through the veil of the _Te'a_ separating our home dimensions is automatically distorted to some degree or another. And while we are more than willing to acknowledge our wonderful hosts' noble laws and directives as we are in their universe and they so gladly chose to assist us in our time of need, do we have to keep matters secret _**now**_ about what we fear _might_ happen to them? To say anything of others who may become involved in this?"

He blinked as he considered that, and then shook his head. "No, Director. Much that I think – and please, Captain Picard, correct me if I'm wrong – the Federation's Department of Temporal Investigations may disagree with me, we're talking about potential _future_ events, not the past. We have an _idea_ of what might happen if certain events play out as we now believe they might play out. Yet we're here _now_! The captain judged our presence here as not being under any sort of Prime Directive restriction, so by both simple humanity and realising that the future certainly isn't set in stone . . . "

"To make this all wonderfully easy, let's simply tell them what we know and let them go figure it out, Doug!" Leblanc cut in, which made all the Federation officers save Worf grin at his blast of frustration at the histrionics being shown here. "After all, not only is a fragment of the soul of that wonderful lady from Ten-Forward trapped in that _maudit_ time-warp out there somewhere, there's also our wonderful host's most honourable _predecessor_ as captain of the _Enterprise_! Who – I pray to God! – didn't get HIS soul ripped apart when he got sucked into the blasted thing!"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"You mean . . . _**James T. Kirk**_ is in the Nexus?"

That was a wide-eyed Jean-Luc Picard.

"Aye," Hiromi answered. "And because of the predecessor television series to the show which allowed us on my Earth to learn of your gallant ship and crew, that man is seen in my universe as one of the most popular science fiction heroes in years. My cousin is a very great fan of that man."

Eyes locked on the reborn emperor as she gave the captain a knowing look, and then Worf straightened himself. "Captain," he spoke out. "If indeed Captain Kirk is trapped in this Nexus, we have the duty and the responsibility to rescue him."

Picard gazed at his security officer, and then he nodded, a smile crossing his face. "Indeed we must, Commander. Would you please have all the senior officers meet in the briefing room in a half-hour so we can discuss this matter?"

A nod. "Of course, sir."

With that, the Klingon walked out of the room. "If I may impose on Lieutenant Anderson, would she be willing to come over with the other senior officers now on _Haida_ – as well as Mister Ki and Miss Hakaru – to get their opinions on this, Captains?" Picard then asked the two Canadian army officers in the room.

Both men nodded. "While Lieutenant Anderson really isn't as knowledgeable about _Star Trek_ as the Director and I am, sir, she doesn't like the idea of your ship being shot out from under you like you lost the _Stargazer_ at Maxia Zeta," Tremblay then stated with a smile. "Atop that, since Duras' sisters Lursa and B'Etor are involved in this as well – in essence, acting as pirates – well, to Michelle, that's simply not right. Especially because you got civilian dependants on this ship. She was on the _Calgary_ when they deployed to the Horn of Africa to keep Somali pirates away from civilian shipping, so she's got more than enough reason to hate their kind."

"Not to mention Sally Carpenter!" Leclerc added with a laugh. "She was on _Winnipeg_ last year when they went off Somalia and chased those brigands all the way from Aden to Mogadishu! She hates them worse than Michelle does!" A nod. "Excuse us, please."

With that, they walked out, followed by Sergeant-Major Romses, Mayumi and the two young guardsmen recruits who had detected the problem with Guinan. Troi and Crusher also stepped out of the room, leaving Jean-Luc Picard alone with Moroboshi Hiromi. As soon as the door closed, the captain tapped a control to lock the door. "I am actually quite relieved," the reborn emperor admitted as she gazed at the yellowed model of the Constellation-class explorer on a shelf affixed to the bulkhead close to the door. "May I ask you something?" she then wondered. "What ship is this? I know _Stargazer_ was given the pendant NCC-2893. This one has NCC-7100, so it's not her."

He smiled. "A ship that never lived," he stated. "That's actually a builder's model of the Mark XII-G version of the Constellations. But by the time they might have started to be constructed in the 2330s, the Ambassadors had been in service for ten years already and Starfleet decided they wanted the better capabilities a larger ship with more modern warp drive can give them. If they were ever built, the Mark XII-Gs would have been given the 7100 series of naval construction contract numbers."

"Ah, so that's what 'NCC' stands for," she noted.

He nodded. "When I served on the _Stargazer_ as second officer, Phigus Simenon – he was the chief engineer at the time – was assigned to the design group for the Mark XII-Gs. He was rather quite broken-hearted when they cancelled the project." He gazed at the model of the unnamed and un-built ship. "He wanted to throw the model away, but I held onto it. Left it at my parents' home in La Barre after I was finally promoted as _Stargazer_'s captain, so it survived Maxia Zeta, then I brought it here to _Enterprise_ after I was made her captain." He then smiled before blinking. "Damn . . . "

"You have my deepest condolences," she whispered as she gazed on him.

He gazed at her, and then he sighed. "Thank you." He then headed over to the replicator terminal. "Would you like some tea or coffee?"

"Please."

He tapped a control. "Go ahead."

"Computer, one cup of Korean _tanggui-ch'a_, hot, with one tablespoon of _koch'u_ powder, not stirred in. One stir stick." Hiromi said as she walked over to join him.

"Computer, tea, Earl Grey, hot."

Two cups of tea then materialised. Picard then blinked on noting the red powder on the surface of Hiromi's angelica herb tea. "Chilli pepper powder?"

She chuckled. "A taste I acquired while I was on Okusei with Onē-sama, Onii-san and Onē-san," she explained as she picked up the stir stick and moved to gently mix the powder into the tea. "Among the Noukiites, this is actually called _eta-ch'ukaitu_. They're utterly mad when it comes to spicing everything they eat – as the Urusians are, too – with their version of red pepper powder, so we had no choice but to adopt to be seen as welcome there amongst them even if we were 'flat-heads.' Onē-sama and Onē-san drink this all the time. Onii-san prefers ginseng tea with pepper powder."

He grinned as they took their tea cups and headed over to sit by the work table. "I read about you and your siblings in that condensed background report Tsukihana had transmitted here while we were aboard _Haida_." A shake of the head. "What you all went through . . .!" A sigh. "Your brother being forced to host your world's first true artificial intelligence – not to mention your soul as well – within his mind. Getting his soul split to effectively get a sister in Tariko. And because you were all in one mind for ten years . . . "

"It is over, Captain. Think no more about it." She then gazed at him. "But please, sir, I beg you: Do not think what just happened to your good brother and your beloved nephew is the end for you." A shake of the head. "Only in your own death would all hope end. And surely, I pray, there are distant elements of your family still alive and well." She then smiled. "Remember what Elder Anthwara told you when you went to Dorvan V about your ancestor that caused such harm to his tribe once?"

"Yes. That was actually a few months ago."

"Given the time period that happened, what was to stop Javier Picard – or any other members of his family – from interacting more _personally_ with the tribes who would later participate in Popé's Rebellion?" she asked. "After all, if my knowledge of the history of that particular time in what later became New Mexico is true, after the rebels were 'bloodlessly' . . . " – he smirked on sensing the sarcasm in her voice on saying that word – " . . . returned to the fold of the rule of King Charles II, the various Tewa peoples and their allies were still able to preserve their core culture and religion. They were even granted the right to be represented by public defenders in the courts of the Viceroy of New Spain in the wake of that sad time."

He paused, and then sighed. "Perhaps."

"It is something – if you're still permitted to do this – you might wish to ask of Elder Anthwara." A shake of the head. "But always remember there is time still if you wish to pursue your own relationships in the future."

A shrug. "But with who?"

She smirked. "I doubt I could serve as a _nakōdo_ in that case, Captain, but I do believe one potential candidate just walked out of this room some minutes ago."

Picard gaped. "Beverly?"

"Why not?" Hiromi asked. "You care for her. She cares for you. And I think that wherever he is right now, the good doctor's late husband would want you – his former commanding officer – and she to be happy for the remainder of your days in this life." She sighed. "Captain, don't give up your choices, I beg you. Remember what the good doctor's son Master Wesley had to decide finally, even if he was aided by the most noble and wise Traveller through a vision quest. Your choices are always there."

He gazed at her, and then he smiled. "Yes, that's true . . . "

A sigh. "You need time to grieve. You need time to let the pain you feel now at your loss vent itself. Believe me, sir, you are not the only one who has mourned the loss of a young relative well before his proper time. I grieved for ten lost children – none of whom ever saw their fifth birthdays – in my first life." She gave him a wry smile. "And like it or not, my friend, you also have responsibilities."

He gazed at her, and then nodded . . .

* * *

**Captain's Log, Stardate 48629.3,**_  
_

_Due to the interesting discovery of the differences of fictional novels and their characters being real people in alternate dimensions – as witness the revelation that in _Haida_'s dimension, the famous world of the _Harry Potter_ children's novels is actually real – Director Moroboshi believed it more than enough to reveal what she and her companions suspect might soon happen to us. This will also allow an old friend to finally recover from a traumatising incident she experienced 78 years ago . . . as well as possibly see _Enterprise_ recover one of Starfleet's most famous commanding officers from a time-space warp that has kept him trapped within for the same period of time._

* * *

**Ship's Operational Log, Sunday 26 December 2010, ship's time 0710 hours EST;**  
**Lieutenant (Navy) Michelle Anderson reporting in the absence of the Commanding Officer,**

_With the recent discovery of the fact that a friend of Director Moroboshi Hiromi's in our universe is seen as a famous children's story character in the Federation universe – not to mention a tragic issue concerning the chief bartender of _Enterprise_'s Ten-Forward lounge, Miss Guinan of El-Auria – it was finally judged necessary to reveal our knowledge of _Star Trek - The Next Generation_ to our hosts. In preparing to help heal Miss Guinan – and also rescued Captain (retired) James T. Kirk from his unwanted imprisonment – _Enterprise_ and _Haida_ are now proceeding coreward towards the path the Nexus is expected to take in approaching the Amargosa system._

* * *

_Enterprise_, Stellar Cartography Monitoring Room . . .

"At this time, the Nexus ribbon is currently 7.9 hours from closest point of approach to the Amargosa star system," Data stated as he tapped controls on the main monitor control station to allow the mixed officers and personnel from _Enterprise_ and _Haida_ to see what they were facing. "As we have confirmed Doctor Soran is now at the Amargosa Observatory, it appears the chances are there that – if he _has_ developed a trilithium sun-killer weapon – he will have to launch it prior to that point in time to divert the Nexus towards the Veridian system, allowing it to directly approach the orbit of Veridian III. If indeed, that is his intended embarkation point."

"Are there any other systems standing in the way?" Tremblay asked.

"Negative, Captain. Do you recall what my 'movie-self' stated concerning what the gravimetric effects of the collapse of the Amargosa star effected?"

"The detonation created a Level Twelve shockwave," Asai Mayumi – one of the lowest-ranking of the Canadian and Starfleet personnel present – stated as many of the _Enterprise_'s personnel grinned at Data's use of the phrase "movie-self." "Gamma emissions went up 0.05 percent. Gravitational fields were radically altered, of course: Amargosa, I can tell, is a standard Type K star, so you can probably calculate the total effect of a catastrophic core collapse, Data-san. Also, the U.S.S. _Bozeman_ would be forced to do a course correction because of the shift of gravity patterns."

"Tell me, Captain: Does Morgan Bateson still command _Bozeman_?" Hiromi asked.

A nod. "He does," Picard stated. "They're constructing a new _Bozeman_ now; the old _Bozeman_ will remain in commission until the new ship is finished. A Sovereign-class heavy explorer. She was originally meant to be named the _Roderick_, but Starfleet Command decided to honour their service in the border region between ourselves and the Klingon Empire in the area of the Typhon Expanse by giving them a new ship; the old _Bozeman_ will be decommissioned at that time and made a memorial at Starbase 12." He then smiled. "But please, Director: Don't tell him I told you that."

"You have our silence, Captain," Hiromi said with an amused grin.

People laughed. "So how can we help you try to get Captain Kirk out of this thing?" Michelle Anderson then asked. "What about Guinan's soul-fragment and the soul-fragments of the other survivors of the _Lakul_? I know about the _tre'cha_ process – since I'm an Avalonian now, I was automatically 'programmed' with that knowledge – but we need trained nurses and/or doctors to be able to pull something like that off if we don't want to risk a whole ton of unintentional bond-matings along the way."

"That's why I volunteered to help out."

Eyes turned to the smiling bespectacled girl standing at the back of the crowd. "Given that Sonami-onēsama possesses a haoryū within her and bonded directly to her soul, she does possess the mental strength necessary to extract the fragmented elements of the Elder Mother Guinan's _mei'na_ and ensure she doesn't become _marei'cha_ with her," Sasamoto Narumi – one of the two Avalonian medical technicians aboard _Haida_ at the time of the ship's entry in Federation space – then stated. "There are also Kumomi-onēsama and Ryōko-onēsama who could also volunteer for the mission and retrieve _mei'na_ fragments from the Nexus. Perhaps Thoughtmaster-prime Soran's, given what we believe he might now be planning and how that would affect the civilisation on Veridian IV."

"But Miss Koro is not a properly-trained warrior," Worf warned.

"Aye, Master Worf, you are right," Hiromi stated. "Even if my cousin prefers the more cerebral arts, she does possess great power and – like the others so touched by the Dragons of Heaven – has come to make peace with Lord Zhāoliè. Sometimes, we need the stealth of ninja to complete a task. Sometimes, we need the honour and stoic dignity of the samurai. And sometimes, we need a tsunami!"

"**_HIROMI!_**"

Everyone else laughed as the leader of Seito High School huffed and puffed up her cheeks as she glared at her cousin. "You indeed have Klingon blood in you, Madame Moroboshi," Worf then said. "As do all your brothers and sisters."

She turned and gracefully bowed to him, which he returned with a nod. "You flatter me with that statement, Master Worf Rozhenko of the House of Mogh."

The Klingon looked surprised on hearing the reborn emperor refer to him by his adopted Terran name as well as his proper form of address among Klingons. "There's one thing that I really want to see," someone then said.

People gazed on William Riker. "What's that, Commander?" Sally Carpenter asked as she crossed her arms and gazed on _Enterprise_'s first officer.

"Worf with his bat'leth against Koeru Kumomi with her katana."

"Actually, Commander, that has already been done."

"WHAT?" Riker yelped as he gazed at Worf. "WHEN?"

A content look crossed the security officer's face. "That actually happened when I was aboard _Haida_ briefing our security personnel now aboard. She offered a friendly spar and I accepted. It was done in the ship's gymnasium with Master Warrant Officer Romses acting as the referee." Worf then nodded. "It was a draw."

"And I _missed_ it . . .?" the first officer moaned.

"You accepted _that_, Worf?" Troi asked, surprised that the competitive Klingon warrior would actually accept a result like _that_ in a bladed one-on-one match.

"Deanna, the Lady Kumomi is touched by the soul of one of the most honourable and experienced warriors to have lived during the Three Kingdoms period of China's history," Worf explained; he had taken a chance to read a basic précis of that period and had vowed to read the famous novel by Luó Guànzhōng when an opportunity presented itself. "Master Zhào Yún – unlike many of his contemporaries – simply desired to see the chaos that was haunting his homeland at the time stopped and believed that the Lady Sonami's past-self could lead them to that future." He sighed. "There is tragedy there, given the history of the Three Kingdoms after they all passed into _Stovoqor_. All their efforts . . . and it did not end the chaos but perpetuated it. And look what happened when these magatama began to appear and later lives became affected by the ghosts of the past." He indicated Hiromi's earring with a wave of his hand.

"Aye, my friend," Hiromi breathed out. "But that is understandable. We were all failures in our first lives; I far more than others."

"Hiromi! What did I tell you about talking about that?"

The reborn emperor ducked her head as Sonami glared at her, and then she allowed the other woman to hug her. "Oh, forgive me, dear cousin," she said before kissing the leader of Seito on the forehead. "Come! Let's go look in on Ryōko and Kumomi!"

With that, they headed out of the room hand-in-hand. Watching them go, Troi took a deep breath. "You okay, Deanna?" Geordi La Forge asked her.

The empath flustered. "That is quite intoxicating. The love Director Moroboshi feels for Miss Koro burns like a sun. And they're not blood-related in this lifetime; it's all a spiritual relationship because of their past-selves."

"Agreed. It truly fascinates me that humans are so willing to forge such relationships," Data noted. "After all, in the most physical sense of the term, I should not look on my own creator as my 'father,' his former beloved as my 'mother' and my creator's late teacher as my 'grandfather.' To say anything of looking upon Lore as my twin brother and Lal as my daughter. There is no blood or likewise fluid that genetically connects us." He then smiled. "That is one of the things that I have always envied about humans . . . even when I did not understand that emotion."

"Well, envy can be destructive if it's allowed to get out of hand, Commander Data," Reverend Vincent Klein then noted. While he had no command authority as he was a chaplain (unlike Deanna Troi, who was a fully-qualified bridge officer), he had been invited to the meeting between the two starships' officers as his moral authority was highly respected. Furthermore, he did serve a position on _Haida_ similar to the half-Betazoid counsellor's position on _Enterprise_. "Perhaps, if I might suggest this, you use a different word from this point on when you speak of this situation," he then suggested. "One without the negative connotations 'envy' possesses."

"What would you propose, Reverend?"

A smile. "Admiration."

The android considered that, and then he nodded. "I will keep that in mind."

People smiled. "Well, now that we've decided . . . "

"Bridge to Captain!"

Picard tapped his communicator. "Picard here. Go ahead, Lieutenant."

"Sir, we just picked up a massive gravimetric distortion," Sam Lavelle, the current flight controller of the watch, called down from the bridge.

"Type?"

"It appears to be a hyperluminal shockwave. At least Level 12."

Silence.

"Source point?" Picard asked.

"Bearing 092, mark 355. Sir, that's the direction the . . . "

"Amargosa observatory bears from us," the captain finished.

A sigh. "Yes, sir."

"So it begins."

Eyes locked on Douglas Tremblay, and then people nodded. "Let's get back to our posts," Picard said. "Let's intercept the Nexus and get this over with."

The others nodded . . .

* * *

Guinan's quarters, that moment . . .

"The Nexus?"

Morokuzu Ryōko and Koeru Kumomi both nodded. "Elsa de Sica and Triela Hilshire both sensed the damage to your soul that distortion caused you 78 years ago when you were on the _Lakul_, Lady Guinan," the former then said in a concerned voice. "We believe that a fragment of your soul remained within the Nexus after you were beamed aboard the third _Enterprise_ when they came to rescue you after her launch; the incident where Captain Kirk also disappeared. That sort of soul-wound – while almost totally invisible to the psychically-gifted races of your dimension – sticks out rather noticeably to an Avalonian's senses. And given that the Avalonians on _Haida_ strongly interacted with Hiromi-sama for the four months prior to her commissioning in the Canadian Forces, they inherited her 'damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead' attitude when it comes to correcting something that causes another sentient being pain."

Hearing that, the dark-skinned El-Aurian blinked before shaking her head. "It still hurts after all this time. I've done so much to try to forget it." She then gazed on the young temple maiden and her companion, both of whom – to her own meta-senses – were far more than just mere Terran teenagers in artificially-created bodies with some interesting genetic enhancements added to them. "You don't need to do this."

"Why do you say that, good lady?" Kumomi asked.

The older woman sighed. "Those of us who survived on the _Lakul_ agreed that we would – even if our society was effectively lost – do everything to adhere to our inner core beliefs." A wry smile crossed her face. "We had power and technology. That's what brought the Borg to us eventually. But our beliefs in just observing other races – to just sit back and listen to what they said to us – were as ancient to us as your souls both feel to me right now. So we decided to go back to the basics." She then perked on seeing both her visitors laugh. "Did I say something funny?"

"A friend of ours from the Kyoshō Academy – Ayami-san would know him much better than we – has long lived under the belief that before you could be a successful warrior, you must totally master the basics of any martial art," Kumomi stated. "I apologise, but on hearing you say that, it reminded us both of Makoto-san very much."

"Is he successful in his desire to live that way?"

"He is," Ryōko stated. "Still, while I do understand your reticence to revisit such a clearly traumatic time of your life, there are _**our**_ core beliefs. Not to mention our loyalty to Hiromi-sama, who has done so much to turn our kind away from the black maw of darkness that haunted our past-selves for many years."

"_Giri_ and _ninjō_, you mean?"

The young temple maiden smiled. "You are familiar with them."

Guinan smiled. "Let me show you something."

She got up and walked over to an alcove where something that reminded the young visitors from Japan the average home kamidana was located. Reaching into the open shrine, the aged observer took out a picture and walked over to show it to them. Ryōko tenderly took the picture and gazed on it before her eyebrows arched. "A Canadian soldier. Lieutenant-colonel's rank, assigned to their Special Operations Command. If my knowledge of Canadian regimental hat badges is correct, she is a part of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry." An eyebrow arched. "A friend of yours?"

"I was actually an adopted aunt to her when she was growing up. Roughly around your time in my dimension," Guinan said with a smile. "Glorianna Theresa Jameston; everyone nicknamed her 'Roy' for some reason I've long forgotten. A friend of mine – he was killed by the Borg – had lived many years in Japan and had trained himself in both kempō and the Gōjū-ryū school of karate. He taught Roy everything he knew, which she used when she joined the Army and eventually took command of the Special Operations Regiment in Petawawa just in time for the Third World War to flare up. She commanded it all the way to 2079 when her unit took out Phillip Green and the members of his Optimum Movement on Space Station Perfection." A sigh. "She and her friends didn't stop the mass launching of the nuclear missiles that set off what the Terrans call these days 'the Post-Atomic Horror,' but she practically eradicated Green's people, plus even helped a break-away group known as the Icaria Movement escape Earth." She bowed her head. "She disappeared right afterward. No one knows what happened to her." A smile. "When she was the Regiment's commanding officer around the time the Third World War finally came to an end, I was the chief bartender at the officer's mess at Petawawa. I . . . " A sniff. "I miss her a lot. I was as close to her as I am now to Jean-Luc Picard. Even more so since I literally watched her grow up."

"Did you sense her die?" Ryōko asked.

A shake of the head. "No, I didn't." Guinan smiled. "Picked up on it?"

"Was she an Augment?"

A nod. "She was the daughter of one," the El-Aurian stated. "But somehow, someway – as to the how, I just simply don't know – someone got to her shortly after she was born and managed to do something that helped her fully control her abilities. Not to mention help her have a far nicer disposition than her mother might have had."

"What happened to her mother?" Kumomi wondered.

"As far as we could learn, she was killed sometime after Khan Noonian Singh fled Earth. Roy was adopted by a normal couple in Québec City at the time; no one was the wiser. By the time my people got involved, Roy had started to develop her abilities, so we taught her to hold back and not stick out so much." A nod. "She learned those lessons pretty well. That's what made Green and his friends underestimate her when they fought her." Guinan sat back in her chair. "She was an infantry officer of the way-old school. Always leading from the front. Never letting her people do anything she wouldn't do herself." A smirk. "She ended up killing over two hundred people with her bare hands. It gave her a nickname among her enemies: 'The Dark Lady.'"

Both tōshi nodded understanding. "And what would Jameston-chūsa do if she learned of the wound in your soul, Lady?" Ryōko then asked.

Guinan looked at her, and then slowly sighed. "She'd rip the galaxy apart to find the Nexus, storm it, get that part of me that's in there and yank it out and find a way to put it back into my head." A smirk crossed her face. "Literally come hell or high water." She perked on hearing her doorbell chime. "Come in!" she called out.

The door opened, revealing two smiling women. "Then why dishonour your beloved niece's memory by not allowing we humble warriors to help you?" Hiromi asked.

Guinan stared at the reborn emperor, and then she shrugged. "Well, if you insist." She perked. "What are you, anyway? I can tell your cousin is just like Kumomi and Ryōko here, but your power feels almost the total opposite of theirs."

Hiromi shrugged as they stepped inside. "My honoured friends believe me possessed by the power of a _fènghuáng_, the classical symbol of motherhood and womanhood in our ancient homeland," she explained as they moved to sit beside their friends. "Onē-sama is of a much different opinion. She believes that the spirit within me is actually Sagussan in origin and became part of our lives thanks to Onii-san's long-forgotten visit to that world sometime before Onē-sama and I began to share his brain." She gave their host a reassuring smile on seeing Guinan frown on hearing of the joint state of the souls of the Moroboshi siblings that had lasted a decade before Noukiios' most famous free warrior and a man named Ganzo dai-Louc interfered. "When we were finally separated, both Tariko-onēsan and I found ourselves touched by that power, while a more darker shade of that power remained within Onii-san. As to what it is, we simply cannot say. Since the current race living on Sagussa has not bothered to contact us in the wake of Onii-san's visit to that world, I doubt we will ever know. And I have no real desire to seek them out."

"I still caution you to consider otherwise, My Emperor," Ryōko stated. "You should not allow your anger at your noble brother's supposed 'abandonment' by these people to cloud your decisions. All the ships my beloved and Bunjaku-dono created can penetrate the Galactic Barrier and proceed to that world with great ease. If you do not wish to impose on the military leaders of Earth to make use of those ships, our adopted siblings could certainly build a separate ship for the occasion."

"I will consider it at a future time, Kōmei-dono," Hiromi assured her.

The intercom chimed. "Picard to Moroboshi."

The reborn emperor called out, "Yes, Captain?"

"We're heading for the Nexus right now," the _Enterprise_'s captain then called down from the bridge. "We just detected the detonation of the Amargosa star."

A sigh. "So it begins. Given that – if the Duras sisters ARE involved in this – they will have an older model Bird of Prey to make use of, how soon would the good Doctor Soran be able to arrive at his base of operations on Veridian III?"

"As the Nexus travels at a speed of 4017.38 times the speed of light and given that the Veridian system is 133 light years from Amargosa, it will arrive in the approximate location of that system within one day and five hours after passing the Amargosa star in 7.5 hours' time, Director," Data answered from his station on the bridge. "If Doctor Soran is determined to embark by the actual time the Nexus arrives over Veridian III, he will theoretically have to arrive on that planet within twenty-four hours at the least to properly prepare himself for his departure. We can be there four hours prior to that projected time from our current position."

"So we have a day-and-a-half at the most to act. We best get to the Nexus, then proceed directly to Veridian III afterward," Hiromi stated.

"Agreed," Picard called back . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES:  
**

1) Master Warrant Officer **Barry Romses** was mentioned in the _Phoenix From the Ashes_ side-story _A Nice Quiet Place_. A former co-worker of the Canadian Guards' 1st Battalion's regimental sergeant-major, Chief Warrant Officer **Marc Duchesne**, in Canada's elite counter-terrorist team **Joint Task Force Two** (JTF2), MWO Romses is the company sergeant-major (CSM) – the Canadian equivalent position of an American Army company's first sergeant – of the 1st Battalion's Number 2 Company, one of the four rifle companies in the unit. As indicated above, he is a former member of the second of Canada's three Regular Force infantry regiments, **Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry** (**PPCLI**).

2) Translations: **Mei'na** – One's soul, the part of one's being not of the physical body; **Maudit** – Accursed; **Nakōdo** – Matchmaker, the person who arranges an **omiai** (a meeting between prospective marriage partners before a formal engagement); **Stovoqor** – Often mistakenly Romanised as "Sto-vo-kor," this is the Klingon version of Valhalla, the place where the honoured dead reside after this life (the proper Romanisation of this word is provided by ter'eS); **Chūsa** – Army lieutenant colonel, Navy commander, Air Force wing commander; **Fènghuáng** – Literally "male phoenix & female phoenix."

3) Part of this story is inspired by the fan fiction story _Echoes of Destiny_, which was written by an anonymous writer for the **Bring Back Kirk** website (Google those words and you'll be directed to it) which came out shortly after _Generations_ was released in answer to what happened to James Kirk in that movie (the so-called "Shatner-verse" series of Star Trek novels written by William Shatner with the help of Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens between 1995 and 2006 also arose from the fan reaction to Kirk's fate in that movie). It should be noted that the last update put onto the BBK website (at the writing of this story) was in January 2010; attempts at either making further chapters of _Echoes of Destiny_ or any sort of fan-film based on it haven't progressed forward. Most likely, I believe that with the release of the 2009 _Star Trek_ film, the urged to "bring back Kirk" has pretty much faded away.

4) **Her Majesty's Canadian Ships _Calgary_** (pendant number **FFH-335**) and **_Winnipeg_** (**FFH-338**) are two of the Halifax-class helicopter frigates built in the late 1980s as part of the CPF (Canadian Patrol Frigate) project. Both ships, as they are named after cities in the western part of Canada, are based at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, outside Victoria (the capital of British Columbia) on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.

5) The code "**NCC**" used as part of a Federation starship's pendant number has never been properly established as meaning "naval construction code." The actual reason this code was used in the original series is that it combined the American civil aircraft registry prefix code NC with the Soviet civil registry code CC.

6) **Phigus Simenon** is a character from the _Stargazer_ series of Star Trek novels written by Michael Jan Friedman. He first appeared in the novel _Reunion_ (ISBN 0-671-78755-1, published in 1992).

7) Jean-Luc Picard's ancestor **Javier Maribona Picard** was first mentioned in the _TNG_ seventh-season episode "Journey's End."

8) As stated before, the locations of most of the planets and areas as described here is based on the reference guide _Star Trek Star Charts_. One exception to this is the location of the Typhon Expanse, where U.S.S. _Bozeman_ disappeared for so long (as shown in the fifth-season episode "Cause and Effect"). In lieu of acknowledging what _Star Charts_ stated about the Expanse (which placed it coreward of Romulus 40 light-years from Earth), I followed what was written in the novel _Ship of the Line_ (ISBN 0-671-00925-7, released in 1997) by Diane Carey, which had the Expanse located on the Federation-Klingon border.

9) It has been always established since _The Senior Year_ that Sagussans, when committing the act of _tre'cha_ to save the soul of a friend, will most often – unless one is formally trained as a healer or nurse to deal with the overwhelming presence of another's soul in their very mind – end up becoming bond-mates with the one so being saved. The first example of this can be seen in the _TSY_ story "Stage Zero."

10) **Sam Lavelle** was one of the junior ranked crewmen introduced in the seventh-season episode "Lower Decks." He is good friends with Ben Beatty, Taurik and Alyssa Ogawa.

11) **Kempō** and **Gōjū-ryū** karate are two of the martial arts schools practiced by an actor who made his mark in the 1991 action movie _The Perfect Weapon_, **Jeff Speakman** (born 1958).

12) The **Optimum Movement in the Pursuit of Perfection** is the organisation that Colonel **Phillip Green** (who appeared in the original series third-season episode "The Savage Curtain" and the _Enterprise_ fourth-season episodes "Demons" and "Terra Prime") led during the time of the Third World War. This term – and the character of Colonel **Adrik Thorsen** – were introduced in the first-ever "crossover" novel between the original series and _The Next Generation_ published by Pocket Books, _Federation_ (ISBN 0-671-89423-4, released in 1994), written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Given the continuity conflicts between the movie _Star Trek - First Contact_ (which came out in 1996) and _Federation_, I ran on the idea that when Zefram Cochrane tested his warp drive system in 2063, the storyline went as was depicted in the movie . . . but he would later attract Thorsen's interest during the 2070s as depicted in the novel, which is when World War Three – or, as I see it, "Phase Two" of World War Three (to differentiate it from "Phase One" from 2026-2053) – flared up, leading to a climactic battle in 2079 that utterly destroyed the Optimum and unleashed the Post-Atomic Horror. I hope to cover this in _The Questor Saga - The Dark Lady and the Black Crow_. The **Icarian Movement** that branched off from the Optimum is my own creation.


	5. Into the Nexus

Rapidly departing the Amargosa system towards Veridian . . .

"We are clear of the shock wave, Mistress."

"Beautiful . . .!"

The crew of the _qawJa'roD_ fell silent as a wide-eyed Lursa gazed on the main view screen, watching as a once-healthy star that had just collapsed and exploded finally wink out of existence, leaving nothing more than a sea of plasma and a totally shattered star system, not to mention a completely destroyed space station and the small crew of Romulan warriors that had been killed on her before the last loyal warship of the House of Duras came to rescue her mistresses' ally. The ship's tactical officer then came up to stand beside the elder daughter of the warlord in whose memory this ship was named after. "If there was a cloaked Romulan vessel near the station when the sun detonated, Mistress, they may have escaped the shock wave to flee back through the Neutral Zone to alert Sela about this business," the younger woman stated.

"What could they do? What evidence will they have?" Lursa wondered as a snort escaped her, and then she moved to take her seat at one of the twin captain's chairs that had been put on the bridge for her and her sister's benefit. "By the time that ship – if they _did_ escape – gets back to Romulus to speak to our old friend, it will be too late to do anything about it. The good doctor will be within his precious Nexus and we will have the power to finally avenge what happened to our family . . . "

A side door swept open, revealing B'Etor and a spiky-haired middle-aged man – given that he himself was El-Aurian, Lursa knew that Tolian Soran was much older than he appeared to others of short-lived races – in a dark jumpsuit. "We suffered no deaths, sister," B'Etor said. "The good doctor's been already made aware of what happened and why."

"You have my thanks for the rescue," Soran stated with a smile at his host, and then he turned to gaze at the view screen and the destruction he had just unleashed.

"You have our congratulations as well, Doctor," the tactical officer – Soran knew her name was Duy'ij, which translated "listens to angels" in _tlhIngan Hol_, but he knew nothing else about her – then stated. "A most fearsome weapon you have created."

"Yes, it would seem that way as well."

A toothy smile crossed Duy'ij's quite attractive face. "I realise you have your own reasons for doing this, Doctor. Be assured, they will be respected. Would you desire we remain here to ensure the Nexus alters its course as you desire it to?" As he gazed at her, she added, "Just to ensure your calculations were correct."

He blinked, and then nodded. "Yes, there's no need to hurry on to Veridian at this time. All the basic preparations are complete; the missile there can be programmed for launch within an hour once I'm on the surface." He then smiled at her. "And it would be wise just to make sure of things." He turned to the Duras sisters. "Unless you believe we may be threatened by the Federation." he then noted.

Both of them shook their heads. "No, there is no threat. By the time this is detected at any of the nearby starbases, it'll be long too late," B'Etor noted.

"Agreed," Lursa said with a nod. "Duy'ij, monitor everything about the after-effects of the star's core collapse. These things also happen naturally; it would be rather stupid for us to ignore a potential problem in case a star that has inhabited worlds orbiting it undergoes this sort of thing. Also keep an eye out in case a Federation ship does come sniffing around here. That thrice-damned Picard is close by, not to mention that old skeleton Bateson. Both would be problems."

A curt not. "It is done, Mistress."

With that, the other woman walked off the bridge to proceed to her personalised tactical monitor room, located near the base of the "head" of the cloaked D12-class ship. Watching her go, Soran's dark grey eyes narrowed before he turned to lean closer to his hosts. "Where exactly does that woman come from?" he whispered.

"She's a former officer of Imperial Intelligence who lost favour when Gowron became Chancellor some years ago," Lursa stated, a sneer twisting her lips as she then recalled what had happened when they tried to force their nephew Toral to challenge the son of M'Rel for the position of the Empire's head-of-government. "She is loyal to us, Doctor. Do not concern yourself about her." A sigh. "Even if she is odd."

Soran smiled at her. "That's what worries me."

* * *

"My Emperor . . . "

"Report, Lady Dujduy."

"The Amargosa star has been destroyed."

Hearing that, the clone to the man who had united the Klingon race fifteen centuries before could only breathe out as he closed his dark eyes. "Were there any innocents slain in this miserable business, good lady?" he asked as he gazed on her image in his private quarters in the old quarter of the First City of Qo'noS.

A shake of the head. "No. Only Romulans. Just as the Lady Heva arranged."

"She plays a dangerous game," Kahless warned.

"This is normal for their race. An inheritance from their Vulcan cousins, my Emperor," the woman known among the crew of the _qawJa'roD_ as "Duy'ij" stated. "To us, competition must be physical. To the Romulans, it is mental. But it is just as deadly and just as breathtaking as what we experience." A pause. "We will remain here until the Nexus warp passes the system, then proceed on to Veridian III. Your orders?"

"Is it true there is an inhabited planet there?" he demanded.

A nod. "The fourth world. Over two hundred million in a pre-industrial state as our Terran friends would view it." A shake of the head. "I am prepared to ensure they will not die even if I have to sabotage this ship myself with Soran aboard."

Kahless' eyes widened on hearing that calm assertion, and then he reverently said, "You will be remembered with honour, Lady."

A light smile. "You have what I left you, My Emperor?"

"I do."

"If it happens and my body cannot be recovered, go to Vulcan. A village north of the site of Gol, on the other side of the Forge from Mount Seleya. Seek out a woman named Roy Pannan. She lives alone in the dunes outside the village. Her home is located near the site of the Kiln of the famous pre-Reformation swordsmith, Master S'harien, My Emperor." The smile then widened as Duy'ij/Dujduy gazed intently at him. "Explain everything to her. She will know what to do afterward."

He blinked. "She is like you?"

A nod. "She is. She is a very old friend."

Kahless hummed. "That is an _Earth_ name! Why does she live on _Vulcan_?"

"She is an ancient warrior of that world whose soul was nearby burned clean by the screams of millions on her homeworld years agone," she replied.

He took that in, and then he nodded. "It will be done. _Qapla'_!"

A bow of her head. "_voDleHwI', bIche'jaj qaStaHvIS wa'netlh DISmey_!"

The link was then dissolved . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_, the bridge, two hours later . . .

"We are now within visual range of the Nexus, Captain."

"On screen."

The image dissolved into a field displaying a wildly-twisting ribbon of orange-golden energy with reddish borders as it seemed to careen along with a will of its own. The fact that the ribbon was moving at over four thousand times the speed of light was more than apparent given the rapidly passing star field. "We're already starting to experience gravimetric distortions at this range, Captain," Data then warned as the Galaxy-class deep space explorer began to rock under their feet, the ship's inertial dampeners fighting to keep everything on an even keel. "Our shields and _Haida_'s are holding; no damage to either ship at this time."

"_Enterprise_ to _Haida_," Picard said. "How are things over there, Lieutenant?"

An amused laugh answered him. "This is just like being on the Atlantic off the Grand Banks in Sea State Five on a frigate, Captain!" Michelle Anderson then replied. "Fortunately for us, we haven't lost our sea legs since we got on this big tub!"

People on the Federation starship's bridge grinned. "Captain, we're starting to detect fluctuations in the warp plasma relays," Geordi La Forge warned from his position in Main Engineering. "Nothing we can't handle, but if we get closer to that thing, things might get a little hairy down here! I wish Scotty was here! He was there when Starfleet first bumped into the Nexus, so he'd remember what happened!"

"How are things on _Haida_, Miss Hakaru?" Picard asked.

"Oh, we're fine, Captain," Hakaru Ayami called back. "Since Sagussan hyper-warp technology is based on actually drawing in tachytron radiation from the interphase planes between our 'main' dimension and border realms like hyperspace, pocket warps and the like to trigger the warp reaction in the core, the collector units are finding no problem absorbing energy coming off the Nexus and channelling it into the main drive reactors. We could possibly get a lot closer to that thing than you can if you want to actually try to board it right now to get everyone out of there."

Picard perked. "Would your ship's absorption ability threaten any of the people currently trapped inside the Nexus, to say anything of the soul fragments there?"

"No. Given the sheer size and scale of the thing, _Haida_ could hang off it for years and not even come close to drawing any energy from the core," the young genius from Kanagawa replied. "The core of the Nexus is protected from its fringe zones by a spacial-temporal barrier field. It's blocking any attempts psionically by any of the Avalonians aboard to probe inside and contact anyone there; it'll probably do the same thing to Deanna-san and Guinan-sama as well. I think it was that field the _Enterprise_-B punctured with the resonance burst Captain Scott used to free the _Lakul_ survivors. Most likely, that's what provoked the reaction that got Captain Kirk later."

"How are you able to detect all this, Ayami?" Data asked. "All the readings I can pick up from the Nexus are coming through a single dyno-scanner. The distortion effects of the whole anomaly are acting like a dampening field to us."

A chuckle. "Commander Data, go passive. Get away from using your active sensors and just listen," a strange woman called back. "Our remote passive systems are working perfectly with this thing. I think we're even starting to pick up life signs."

"Who's this?" Picard asked.

"Petty Officer 2nd Class Miranda Bethell, sonar operator, chief of the remote sensor monitor unit, Captain Picard," the voice called back.

"Ah," Data said as he moved to re-key the sensor controls. "I noted that _Haida_ possesses both active and passive sensor systems with hypersensitive data input and correlation capabilities. Both fitted into the main hull itself and on deployable remote bodies similar to the SQS-504 model variable depth sonar systems used on the old steam destroyers escorts of the Saint Laurent-class after their modification in the mid-1960s to carry the Sikorski CH-124A Sea King anti-submarine helicopter unit, not to mention the Annapolis-class steam destroyer escorts as they were initially built before they became test beds for the Halifax-class frigates in the mid-1980s. Petty Officer Bethell, do you have a remote body currently deployed away from _Haida_'s hull to assist in detecting the actual environmental conditions inside the Nexus?"

"That's an affirmative, Commander. We've got two units right now deployed from the keel mast. I've got Kimura Yuka moving to get it all collected and washed through the analysis units before we can give you a clear read of what's going on in there."

"Would you need a resonance burst?" Picard asked.

"Let's hold off on that, Captain," the veteran sonar operator called back. "No sense stirring up the pot if we don't have to."

"Understood." Picard then looked at T'Thelaih Mason, who was monitoring all the ship's systems through a dataPADD as she relaxed in the visitor's chair beside Deanna Troi's position. "Captain Mason, will you please note that we need to look better into such systems when we go take this ship in for the next refit at a starbase," he advised.

"Already noted, sir," the marine officer replied back, smiling.

"Got it!"

Picard perked. "Report!"

"Sir, from what we've picked up over the last ten minutes, I'm detecting a total of 372 humanoid sentients inside the Nexus," Kimura Yuki – Data knew she was one of the girls modelled after the same video series that had inspired Asai Mayumi's creation; as a sonar operator, the would-be first baseman would be one of the four girls of that group allowed to wear Navy black in lieu of Air Force blue or Army green – stated. "I'm also detecting 47 other beings, but the readings are faint . . . "

"Those would probably be the soul fragments of the Lady Guinan and her friends."

Everyone perked on hearing Moroboshi Hiromi's voice; the reborn emperor was seated to William Riker's right. "Then we've got a bit of a problem, Director," Douglas Tremblay then warned from his place in _Haida_'s operations room.

"What do you mean, Captain?" Picard asked.

"We've got three more people than we expected, sir," the military police officer stated. "Look, all of the 265 people on the _Robert Fox_ were lost. _Lakul_ lost 103 of the 150 that were aboard her. That makes a total of 368. Add Captain Kirk, that'll make 369 people inside the Nexus. Yuki just detected 372 people. Where did the three other people come from? Was there a miscount on the _Enterprise_-B?"

"No, Doug, there was no miscount."

"Guinan?" Picard asked.

"Hiromi's letting me listen in through her own communicator," the matron of Ten-Forward stated. "It seems we have quite the mystery on our hands, Jean-Luc."

"I would have to agree with the Elder Mother, Captain," Yuki added. "Recommend we take at least twenty more minutes to get a detailed life scan reading of all the sentients inside the Nexus to determine where the three additional ones came from before we attempt breaching into the anomaly to commence rescue operations."

"Lieutenant Anderson?" Picard asked.

"A lot of this is straight-out gibberish to me, Captain, but I have to concur."

A nod. "Agreed. Do you require assistance, Miss Kimura?"

"Negative, Captain," Yuki called back. "The systems are alright and we were all programmed to do necessary maintenance if they break down even if Kazumi and Yayoi are planning to become sonar technicians once we pass Fleet School and they head on to the Naval Engineering School in Halifax for fifteen months of vacation time." As laughter echoed in the background, she then declared, "Commencing recording of all passive systems for life-scan and sentient lifeform identification, PO Bethell."

"Proceed, Ordinary Seaman Kimura," PO2 Bethell ordered.

"Aye-aye, PO."

"So we have to wait," Riker mused.

"We still have sufficient time before we will have to proceed to Veridian III, Commander," Data advised from his station.

"How close are we to Amargosa, Lieutenant Lavelle?" Picard asked.

"ETA closest point of approach to Amargosa, four hours."

"Guinan, do you think Doctor Soran would proceed to destroy the Veridian star right away?" Troi then asked after opening a link with Ten-Forward.

"No," the observer/chief bartender then stated. "Tolian was always very exact when it came to scientific research; he was quite the prodigy. He'd want to make sure it was all working right before he did anything. I think we've got time."

"Let's hope so; the people on Veridian IV are dependent on us," Picard said.

Others on both ships grimly nodded on hearing that . . .

* * *

**Captain's Log, Stardate 48629.8,**

Enterprise _and_ Haida_ are currently in position approximately 10,000 kilometres from the trailing edge of the Nexus. Ordinary Seaman Yuki Kimura, a prospective sonar operator manning _Haida_'s remote passive sensor network, is in the midst of doing a detailed analysis of lifeform readings from the Nexus. She has discovered three more humanoid lifeform readings than what was expected given the loss of people from the incident at the time of the _Enterprise_-B's launch in 2293, including Captain James Kirk. This discrepancy has to be evaluated before we attempt to breach the Nexus to retrieve the captain and the other "victims" of that incident, not to mention help the soul fragments of Guinan, Doctor Soran and the other "survivors" from the _Lakul_._

* * *

_Haida_, Remote Sensor Monitor Room . . .

"So this is the general disposition of the life forms currently in the Nexus."

Jean-Luc Picard and Moroboshi Hiromi looked past Kimura Yuki's shoulders to gaze on the holographic image the future sonar operator had just produced. "A very large community in this bubble," the director of the Earth Defence Force stated on noting several bubbles of Earth-type environments in the core of the Nexus itself. "With the numbers there, I would assume all the El-Aurians gathered together in a single group."

"Would they know they were trapped inside an anomaly?" the captain asked.

"No."

Both turned as Guinan walked up to stand directly behind Yuki's chair. Her face was creased with concern and worry, but she was doing her best to maintain her usual detachment from the affairs of others, even if this directly concerned her. "It was as if we were back on El-Auria before the Borg came, Jean-Luc," she explained as she gazed on Picard. "Like we were in a dream we could sense, we could touch and interact with. A holodeck fantasy far more richer and more detailed than anything Reg ever came up with." Reginald Barclay was currently in the Propulsion Systems Engineering Monitor Room in the aft part of the main hull keeping an eye on _Haida_'s drive systems alongside Ishida Nagisa. "To those of us who went in there, it was as if the Borg attack never happened at all. The sheer _reality_ of the place was just overwhelming to us."

The veteran Starfleet commander considered that for a moment. "So the chances are very good that those who survived intact inside the Nexus . . . would not desire to come out of it," he then stated. "Even if we present the evidence of what did happen to them, they could still reject it and elect to remain behind. Especially if they lost loved ones like Doctor Soran did." A sigh. "Do we force them out of there?"

"No."

Eyes locked on Hiromi. "Let them have the peace they desire, Captain," the reborn emperor then said. "Even more so, if it's possible and he still chooses to do this, let Soran-sensei enter the Nexus to gain his own peace in the end."

Picard considered that, and then he nodded. "Agreed."

"But what about Amargosa?" Guinan asked, a knowing smile on her face.

"Were there any inhabited worlds there?" Yuki asked.

The captain shook his head. "None." He then shrugged. "Besides, what evidence do we have of the doctor's involvement in the destruction of the Amargosa star? For all we know, it could have been Lursa and B'Etor that might have done it; they wish to use trilithium as a weapon in their hopes of overthrowing Gowron and seizing control of the High Council of the Empire. That is my greater concern in this case." Noting Yuki's look, he added, "As well as saving the people of Veridian IV, of course."

"Naturally," the hazel-eyed girl with the freckles on her face and the straight-cut brown hair at mid-neck stated before she turned back to her monitor screen. "Alright, confirmed a pure Terran lifeform reading here with vital signs matching that of Captain Kirk from last readings taken aboard U.S.S. _Enterprise_, pendant 1701-B, in 2293." She pointed to an isolated bubble above the large bubbles with the El-Aurians living in it. "As for the three here and here . . . " she then said as she pointed to the two isolated locations below the El-Aurian zone, with one in one location and the other two together in the other location. She then she blinked as certain lifeform vital signs were picked up, not to mention the energy trace of a very familiar transuranium element. "Lyna's Soul, that's not possible . . .!"

"What, Yuki-chan?" Hiromi prodded.

Yuki stared at her. "Onē-sama, those three are Avalonians!"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"That's not possible," Guinan stated. "Your race doesn't exist here."

"Wait!" Hiromi cut in. "Yuki, everyone noted the different quantum vibration frequencies in the nucleii of the atoms in our bodies and the ships between our home universe and our hosts' universe. Can you do a quick scan of those three people to confirm which universe they're actually from?"

"Actually, if you give me a moment, Onē-sama, I can take what we've already scanned and make sure of it," Yuki said as she tapped controls on her board.

It actually took two minutes by Picard's glancing at the LED clock on the starboard bulkhead of the room for Yuki to that analysis. A moment later, she turned to stare wide-eyed at the reborn director. "They're from our universe, Onē-sama. Even more so, the sensors have picked up an omega pattern of tachytron radiation in this particular bubble here." She pointed the holographic image of the Nexus, indicating a habitation "bubble" farthest from the bubble containing the El-Aurians, with only one person within.

Hiromi blinked. "_Omega_ pattern?"

"Yes."

A sigh, and then Hiromi tapped a control. "Kōgetsuei-dono!"

"What is it, Onē-san?" Ki Tsukihana called up from the main computer room.

"Unlock the information on the Omega File, load it to Kimura Yuki-chan's station in the RSMR. Do it now," the reborn emperor then ordered.

Silence.

"My Emperor . . .?"

"Do not question it! DO IT!" Hiromi barked.

A shocked squawk, and then a quickly blurted, "At once, Majesty!"

Picard and Guinan stared at their host. "'The Omega File?'" the captain asked.

Hiromi gave him a knowing look. "You have what you address as the 'Omega molecule,' which – per special orders that you, as commanding officer of your ship, only know of – forces you to do anything in your power to see it disposed of and destroyed immediately," she stated before glancing at Guinan. "And on your friend's behalf, Lady, I beg you not to speak of this to others." As Guinan nodded, Hiromi indicated Yuki's console. "This is our version from it. A dark legacy from Sagussa's past."

"Why weren't **_we_** told of this, Onē-sama?"

Hiromi gazed on Yuki, who had a hurt look on her face. "Yuki-chan, I could trust any of _you_ with that information. But your older sisters – those who suffered years of abuse at the hands of their former 'masters' – would gladly, if they learned of what we know that is contained in the File, do all to seek out these objects and employ them against the Niphentaxians. This – if used in the right way – would result in that race's total and complete _annihilation_." She then squeezed the young would-be sonar operator's shoulder. "Would you desire something like that to happen?"

Yuki blinked, and then she shook her head. "No."

"Is this known to the Forces, Director?"

Hiromi turned as Miranda Bethell, a pretty woman in her early thirties with stylised reddish-brown hair and deep brown eyes, walked up to them. "It is. Top Secret, Special Access Codeword 'Black Phoenix.' Only Captain Gamblin and Chief Petty Officer Beaulieu know of the details. When we get done here, you are to physically go to the regulating office. Make sure you are TOTALLY alone when you speak to the good coxswain about this. Report what happened so he can log it in the proper secure duty log." A glance to the others in the room. "As for all of you, I know you have the right security clearances, but you must NEVER speak of this to anyone, not even those of your shipmates not here today. Your careers can be threatened by this."

The other people in troom were quick to nod at those words. "Aye, ma'am!" "Aye-aye, Director!" "Yes, Onē-sama!" "Roger that, ma'am!" they chanted.

By then, the download was complete. "Got the information from the main computer space," Yuki said as she tapped controls. "Doing comparison with all known objects listed in the Omega File." A pause, and then she sighed. "One confirmed match. File Directory reference Omega-Nine." She then glanced at Hiromi. "The energy output our systems have detected confirm the object is physically now in the Nexus."

Hiromi then sighed. "Alright. Erase the download, do a total shutdown of your system, then reboot and run a full cleansing and reformatting protocol."

"Yes, Onē-sama."

"Monitor Station Six off-line," PO2 Bethell's junior supervisor, Master Seaman Peter Tynes, then called out from his own station.

"Acknowledged," Bethell called out . . .

* * *

**Ship's Secure Log, Monday 27 December 2010, ship's time 1136 hours EST;**  
**Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Jacques Beaulieu reporting in the absence of the Commanding Officer,**

_Per the Omega File section of the Ship's Special Standing Orders, Petty Officer 2nd Class Miranda Bethell verbally reported the presence of a Sagussan Fourth Republic weapon of mass destruction designated the _Haijo-ju_ within the spacial-temporal anomaly designated "the Nexus" while H.M.C.S. _Haida_ was accompanying Federation starship U.S.S. _Enterprise_ in a search-and-rescue operation of nearly 400 innocent persons trapped within this phenomena for the last 78 years in their time frame. Specific scans, as detected by Ordinary Seaman Kimura Yuki, confirm the object in question is the "Staff of Gihan," one of the earlier marks of the _Haijo-ju_, created approximately 17,000 years ago by the Head Scientist of Sagussa of the same name. As to how this device got into the hands of the Niphentaxians to eventually wind its way into our current dimension of operations (most likely via the bioroid factory), such remains unknown at this time. U.N.E.D.F. Director Moroboshi Hiromi has taken a hand-carried copy of all data concerning the _Haijo-ju_ to the _Enterprise_ so they may be made aware of the threat these devices can present to any living being. Full security protocols concerning the revelation of this device's existence to the ship's crew have been enacted per SSOs._

* * *

_Enterprise_, the main briefing room . . .

"So this device is meant to literally manipulate the _Te'a_ Itself?"

"Yes, Counsellor," Data stated as _Enterprise_'s chief staff met together in the large lounge at the aft end of the first deck of the primary hull. "According to the information Tsukihana and Ayami gained from the main dockyard computer when they were busy constructing _Haida_ and her sisterships, the _Haijo-ju_ was designed based on what was known about the Power Jewels the Seekers had created billions of years before. It was learned by a scientist on Sagussa at the time, Thoughtmistress-prime Ojin, that in the very core of Sagussa's moon, Sagurei, there was a Power Jewel. No doubt, the Jewel there was the one actually placed on Sagussa itself billions of years beforehand. As to how the Jewel came to be within Sagurei, Madame Ojin was unable to determine, but she theorised that one of the prior civilisations that were native to that world relocated the device to prevent the temptation possessing such a device could bring to anyone."

"What exactly is the capability of this thing?" Geordi La Forge asked.

"It capabilities are effectively limitless, Geordi. Reality itself could be warped by anyone who has forged a telepathic command link with the onboard computer of the Staff."

"A true doomsday weapon," Worf noted, disgust in his voice.

The others in the room all shuddered. "So how did the Staff get onto the Avalon bioroid factory in the first place?" Picard asked.

"According to what was last reported from Sagussa before the War of Clone Rights effectively destroyed the native population 13,000 years before our friends' time period, Captain, a Head Scientist named Horan – who himself created what is believed to be the one 'true' _Haijo-ju_ device – dispersed all the known prototypes across the equivalent areas of both Alpha and Beta Quadrants in the Milky Way Galaxy of their universe," the android answered. "One potential _Haijo-ju_ – the Genesis Wand of Parah – is believed to be the Sceptre of Lecasur, which serves as the physical symbol of leadership of the Presidency of the Vosian Confederation. It was located two thousand years ago by Lecasur, the first President of the Confederation after the Seifukusu were expelled from their world. Fortunately, it appears that the Genesis Wand's central computer has been totally destroyed so its own function – similar to the Genesis Project started by Doctor Carol Marcus in 2284 – cannot be accessed by whomever possesses the device. It is most likely that some time ago, a Niphentaxian may have located the Staff of Gihan and brought it to Phentax Two. As to how it came to be on the bioroid factory at the time of its liberation, I cannot speculate."

"Unfortunately, I cannot give you much more information beyond that, Master Data," Hiromi added. She had come aboard along with Ki Tsukihana to attend this meeting. "While I knew that about ninety percent of the factory's internal space was completely habitable when it was extracted from Phentax Twelve, I did learn from Madame Otako that two of the factory production towers were strangely sealed off. However, since I was busy doing other things such as settling down with my family and getting on with my scholastic career, I never followed up on what happened in that situation."

"How many bioroids could be made by one of these towers?" Riker asked.

"At least sixty thousand each per month," Tsukihana stated. "As long as they have proper source materials to assist them."

"So whoever these three girls are in the Nexus, they most likely came from that specific location in the factory," Picard concluded.

"Probably. Onē-san didn't know where exactly this closed-off section of the factory was, but given what happened to us, it wouldn't surprise me that section was located right beside that decommissioned battlewagon where the energy burst that hit us to move us into this dimension came from," the young genius from Chichibu warned.

"So why would we find these three girls in the Nexus?" Beverly Crusher asked.

"They most likely believed the Nexus would be a place of safety."

Eyes locked on Deanna Troi. "A good point," Hiromi noted, and then she sighed. "Captain, I think we've dallied enough. It's time we went in there to get them out of that place."

"Will you be going?" Picard asked.

A nod. "I will go speak to the woman with the Staff. Given my knowledge of my family's martial art forms, I stand the best chance to come out of it unscathed." She gave him a knowing look. "I assume you'll be coming as well to meet your most esteemed predecessor at the replica of his mountain cabin back on Earth?"

"Are you reading my mind, Madame?" Picard demanded.

Laughter filled the room. "Captain, with all due respect . . .!" Riker began.

"Oh, hush, Commander!" Hiromi cut him off with a knowing smile. "I know his safety is your first duty, but do you believe a man like **_Jim Kirk_** would listen to _you_ in lieu of a fellow captain? Even if you are currently serving on the _Enterprise_?"

Riker paused as he considered that, and then sighed. "I don't like you going alone, Jean-Luc."

"He will not," the reborn emperor stated. "One of Triela's sisters from the Canadian Guards will be at his side. Will that be sufficient for you?"

Riker nodded. "It would."

"Then let's make it so," Picard said as everyone rose . . .

* * *

_Haida_, Hazardous Environmental Equipment Storage Room #17, thirty minutes later . . .

"All suits checked?" Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Wruck, the senior boatswain that was aboard _Haida_ at the time, then called out.

"Aye-aye, PO! All suits checked and sealed!" Sugiyama Mizuho, one of the prospective trainee boatswains, called back. "We're ready to deploy."

A nod. "Give them the briefing, Seaman!"

"Aye-aye, PO!" And with that, Mizuho – a dusky-skinned, turquoise-eyed tomboy with shaggy blue-highlighted black hair – turned to face the eight people now in the form-fitting hazardous environmental spacesuits standing before her. "Alright, once you beam into the Nexus, do not – I say again, **_do not_**! – break the seal of your internal environment until you confirm that the environment around you is safe! We're not sure if the distress beacons will work in this situation, so we can't hope to keep track of you and yank you out of there if you get into any trouble! Remember, Yuki-chan and the gang in the RSMR can only do it passively and at warp speeds, that means at least _an hour_ before we even could GUESS that's something might be wrong! And even if this place does bow to people's wishes, do you want to risk your life trying to wish yourself back aboard _Haida_ or _Enterprise_ and then learning you _can't_?"

Rueful laughter echoed from the others. "Alright, single file into the materialiser room. Wait at the console before Rei lets you into the chamber," Mizuho then said. "Good luck and may Lyna watch over you all. Move out."

With that, they turned right and headed through the hatchway into Materialiser Room Five. At the console, standing beside PO1 Wruck, was Miya Rei. One of the older-looking Avalonians aboard _Haida_, she was one of the few of the "plank owners" who had specialised in materialiser operations. "Okay, Team One, enter the chamber," she said as she tapped controls. "We have a passive lock on your beam-in point."

"Team One, aye-aye," Koeru Kumomi said as she and Haru Asumi walked into the chamber. The former had her katana in hand, though within its scabbard. The latter had a modern version of the Jōhachi-dabō, the famous Viper Blade welded by her past-self; that had been forged at the request of her Noukiite "dream sister" shortly after their first-ever meeting in the real world as a birthday present in August. "We're ready."

"Locking coordinates," Rei then stated as she tapped controls. "We cannot guarantee a reception confirmation scan due to the spacial-temporal interference, though."

"Proceed ahead, Rei-san," Kumomi stated. "We'll be fine."

The future boatswain gazed at the silver-haired sophomore, and then she nodded. "Energizing," she stated as she flipped the bar controls.

Both of them disappeared in a swirling shower of light. "Unable to confirm success of transport. Recycling the system," Rei then stated as she tapped controls. "Buffer now clear and new coordinates set. Team Two, enter the chamber."

"Team Two, going in," Seki Haneko said as she and Koro Sonami walked into the chamber. The former had the Reienkyo with her – noting the dragon-headed polearm that was as long as the raven-haired high school senior student was tall, Picard could only smile as he considered what a fight between Haneko and Worf, guāndāo against bat'leth, might be like – while the latter was unarmed. "We're ready."

"And scared," Sonami noted with a grin.

"Courage, cousin."

Gazing at Hiromi, the leader of Seito then smiled. "Again, as stated before, we cannot guarantee a reception scan due to interference," Rei warned. "System ready."

"Proceed," Haneko stated.

"Energizing."

They disappeared into showers of light. Picard watched them go, and then turned to gaze at Hiromi. The reborn emperor was gazing forward, in the general direction of the Nexus, her eyes narrowed. As Rei announced that the system was being recycled, Hiromi then relaxed before turning to the captain, winking at him as a smile crossed her face. Seeing that, he felt himself relax as he turned to gaze on his volunteer guard, Henrietta Croce. Another girl modelled after a character from the manga and anime series _Gunslinger Girl_ – though fortunately made physically a woman of about twenty in lieu of the child her namesake was in that series – she was a very pretty young woman with caramel-shaded brown hair cut square at the level of her chin and bangs falling over her forehead, dark brown eyes peeking out of her face. She had with her an unloaded C7A2 rifle slung over her shoulder, magazines packed with 5.56 millimetre bullets in carrying pouches mounted on the combat harness wrapped around her top. She also had other things there like a canteen with water (sealed), her rifle's bayonet (sheathed), a pistol holster with a SIG Sauer P225 9 millimetre semi-automatic pistol within it, magazines for that in separate pockets, a field first aid kit, plus the Earth Defence Force version of a tricorder (which Henrietta had told him was officially called a "field utility multi-purpose environmental scanner, tactical" or FUM-PEST for short; hearing such a wordy term for that device had actually made the veteran explorer laugh). Picard himself had a phaser pistol, though disarmed with the energy battery in a separate pocket (as E.D.F. safety rules demanded that personal weapons NOT be loaded when using materialisers) on his own "web belt," which felt quite bulky to someone not used to carrying so much even when wearing a space suit on extra-vehicular activities.

"Team Three, enter the chamber," Rei then called.

Both walked into the chamber. "As stated before, we cannot guarantee a reception scan due to interference, Captain," she then warned. "System ready."

"Energize," Picard ordered.

"Energizing."

They disappeared in a shower of light . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_, Ten-Forward . . .

"Guinan, we just got the signal from _Haida_. The captain's gone in."

"I know," Guinan said as she gazed out the portal at the writhing energy ribbon well ahead of the starship's bow. "They're alright and safe."

She could hear the audible sighs of relief echo from the bridge . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES:**

1) Translations: **qawJa'roD** – Memory of Ja'roD (he was the father of Duras, Lursa and B'Etor as revealed in the _TNG_ third-season episode "Sins of the Father"); **Qapla'!** – Success!; **voDleHwI', bIche'jaj qaStaHvIS wa'netlh DISmey!** – "My Emperor, may you rule ten thousand years!" (translation courtesy of loghaD).

2) **S'harien** was first mentioned in the novel _The Romulan Way_ (ISBN 0-671-63498-4, released in 1987), written by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood; he was mentioned in the background story of the novel. His name means "pierce blood." A fanatic concerning the ancient ways of his people, he despised Surak when he began preaching the ways of _c'thia_ . . . but later converted, turning around and destroying his wares save for several which were saved by none other than Surak himself! Roy Pannan possesses a S'harien (which she discovered at the site of S'harien's Kiln, where she now lives) . . . as did Spock's family until he gifted it to Ael t'Rllaillieu in Ms. Duane's sequel novel _The Empty Chair_ (ISBN 1-4165-0891-0, released in 2006). S'harien's swords were implied to be the deadliest and most perfect edged weapons ever forged on Vulcan.

3) The **Saint-Laurent class destroyer escorts** (later helicopter destroyers) were built in the 1950s; they were the first-even Canadian-designed and constructed warship class. Known as "Cadillacs" due to their luxurious quarters (they were the first navy ships built with bunks for the crew in lieu of hammocks), they (for the most part) served until the early 1990s when they were replaced by the Halifax-class ships. The **Annapolis-class helicopter destroyers** were a follow-on class of ships designed in much the same way as the Saint-Laurents; they were built in the mid-1960s and served until the turn of the millennium. Yours truly served on **Her Majesty's Canadian Ship _Saguenay_** (pendant number **DDH-206**) from 1987-89.

4) **Kimura Yuki**, as noted above, is a character from _Doki Doki Pretty League_. **Asari Kazumi** (mentioned by Yuki when she was making her initial report on the readout of the people in the Nexus) is from _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix_. **Orikura Yayoi** (also mentioned by Yuki in that scene) comes from _First Kiss Story_, a romantic visual novel developed in 1998 by HuneX for both the PC-FX (a variation of the TurboGrafx-16 game system) and later for the PlayStation. **Sugiyama Mizuho** is another _Grand Prix_ character. **Miya Rei** is a background character from _Ojōsama Express_. And **Henrietta Croce**, as noted above, is a character from _Gunslinger Girl_; her family name is taken from her namesake's _fratello_, Jose Croce.

5) The **Omega Molecule** was first mentioned in the _Voyager_ fourth-season episode "The Omega Directive."

6) The **Haijo-ju** (literally "will of the people") is a meson-forged weapon that was the primary by-product of the Age of Gisan'cha on Sagussa over 13,000 years ago. It – and prototype models such as the Staff of Gihan and the Genesis Wand of Parah/Sceptre of Lecasur – appeared in various stories of _The Senior Year_ as well as _Lonely Souls_.


	6. Jim Kirk and the Program Survivors

Somewhere . . .

"Captain?"

"_Mon Dieu_ . . .!"

Henrietta looked over. "Sir?"

She was quick to sense a flood of disbelief and hope escape the Terran man beside her, and then she looked over before her eyes quickly picked up details forming around them as the strange mists they had beamed into melted away to reveal the grounds of a multi-floor rural family home surrounded by hectares of vineyards. Quickly realising they were in some sort of representation of the captain's family home in La Barre, a village in the Haute-Saône Département of central-eastern France not fifty kilometres from the border with Switzerland, the infantry soldier then reached over to firmly grasp the Starfleet officer's hand with her own. "Captain!"

He jolted, and then blinked for a moment before shaking his head. "Oh, my . . .!" he breathed out before gazing at her, and then he took a deep breath. "Thank you," he said. "For a moment there, this felt like when I was on shore leave on Earth after I had been temporarily assimilated by the Borg. It looks . . .!"

"Like you would have wished it to remain hadn't the fire broke out," she said.

He blinked, and then nodded. "Yes."

Nodding, she then slipped out her tricorder and turned it on. Running the diagnostics on the machine, she smiled. "At least the meson battery we use with these things can overcome the energy interference being within this place could inflict on other equipment. We're in a total Earth-like environment for the Haute-Saône region of the French Republic in mid-summer." At his surprised look, she stated, "I guessed that the chances were there that we'd be transported to a location like this in lieu of where Captain Kirk is, sir. That's the very nature of this place."

"So it seems," he said as he moved to unseal his helmet.

Henrietta moved to monitor his life-signs as he did that, and then she nodded. "All clear. You can take off the suit if you want, sir. I'll cover you."

Picard smiled as the young guardsman put away her tricorder, then un-slung her weapon. Slipping out a magazine, she then loaded it into the clip aperture underneath the weapon ahead of the trigger guard. A smooth draw-back of the cartridge handle allowed one of the deadly bullets to be fed into the firing chamber, though she did keep the selector switch on the SAFE option to ensure the weapon wouldn't discharge by accident. By then, the captain had slipped off his environmental suit and bunched it together on the ground, revealing his normal duty uniform underneath it. Drawing out his phaser, he moved to load the charge battery into it, and then he tapped controls to set it on light stun. "At least the phaser is working," he noted. "I'll cover you," he then said as he held out his hand.

She handed him the C7A2, which he took by the forestock and gently lowered it to sit on the ground on the end of the butt stock as she slipped off her webbing, then got to work on her own suit. Watching her, Picard was quick to see her move with precision and speed. In a moment, she was clear of the boots, revealing the temperate woodland camouflage CADPAT field uniform worn by soldiers of the Canadian Army at her time. Such came complete with a camouflage boonie hat with a knit version of the Canadian Guards' crowned ten-point star insignia with its torteau bearing the three maple leaves from the single branch that formed the centre point of the badge, it surrounded by an annulus that – on the actual metal badge – would bear the regiment's (and Canada's) motto _A Mari Usque Ad Mare_ ("From Sea Unto Sea"), taken from Psalm 72 and symbolising that country's vast landscape touching both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. "You're trained to do that," he mused as she slipped on her webbing and secured it, adjusting the straps to ensure it could fit her body in lieu of the space suit she had over it.

"Every week we're on the ship, we do hazardous environmental deployment drills from the work shuttles to the surface. Wear the gear before we confirm its safe, then dress down, grab the gear and move out," she explained as she took the rifle back and moved to hold it at the ready. "Of course, Chief Warrant Officer Duchesne – he's the battalion regimental sergeant-major – is dreaming of the time we actually can do orbital parachuting from _Haida_ to the surface, both HAHO and HALO jumps!" she added with a grin.

He chuckled. "Captain Kirk, as I recall, liked orbital skydiving; he actually did a jump, exiting over the Arabian peninsula and doing half a planetary orbit to come down near his old family farm in Iowa, the day before the _Enterprise_-B was launched," he noted as she handed him her tricorder. Knowing the functions on it were similar to what he was used to, he began a scan of the area. "Actually planned a three-orbit jump the day of the _Enterprise_-B's christening. Or so Scotty told me when I met him."

"Anything?" she asked as she scanned with the targeting scope of her rifle.

"Nothing . . . wait!" he said. "Someone at the house."

"I'll take point."

He nodded as she moved ahead of him, doing a classic side-step manoeuvre as she scanned around with eyes and the scope of her weapon as she moved to cover areas not being scanned by the tricorder in the captain's hand. Watching her move, Picard could only smile as he recalled his own special operations training prior to the failed mission on Celtris III when _Enterprise_ had been temporarily shifted to the command of now-Rear Admiral Edward Jellico, then the captain of U.S.S. _Cairo_. While the mission to Celtris had been seen as too delicate to involve the Starfleet Marines (which would have involved a known Marine base ship that the Cardassians would have picked up on right away), Picard's prepatory training before going to that world had been much the same way as reconnaissance elements of infantry units were trained to operate. Given the way Henrietta was scanning everything as she moved towards the distant manor house, basic ground infantry skills hadn't really changed in three centuries. _Then again, given the basic mission of the infantry, why should it change?_ he wondered.

Picard then tensed as Henrietta stopped, holding out her hand as she crouched to her knees, and then she waved him down. As he ducked, she then nodded before putting the scope of her weapon right to her eye and slowly rose, aiming at the area she had been looking at before she stopped. After a moment, she then lowered herself, making a "come here" motion with her hand. The captain slowly moved over to her side. "I just spotted the Elder Mother's soul shade," she told him. "Do you want to approach her?"

"Cover me."

"Go!"

With that, Picard relaxed himself as he straightened his body, and then he moved calmly towards the manor home, phaser held to the side. He was quick to spot the dark-skinned woman in the ragged purple robes, which he had confirmed was what she had been wearing on the _Lakul_ the day her life nearly came apart thanks to the Nexus. "Guinan!" he called out as she gazed towards him, and then he moved to head towards her.

She smiled. "Hello, Jean-Luc."

He paused on hearing her call him by given name, surprised that this version of her from 2293 would know him; in real life, Jean-Luc Picard would not meet the El-Aurian until forty years after her soul was fractured thanks to the Nexus, when both were on the Obl'viaan outpost. Before he could ask her anything, she said, "When you came into this place, we sensed you. Those of us who are 'incomplete' like myself and Tolian, plus those of us who are complete." She glanced into the vineyard. "Your friend is cautious."

"You can sense her?"

A nod. "Yes. I even know why she and her friends have come here. I never thought of myself as something like a horcrux." As Picard laughed at that reference to that most hideous form of dark magic revealed in the _Harry Potter_ books, Guinan patted the side of the outdoor bench she was sitting on. "I don't know if you can reunite me with the part of me that was allowed to get away from this place, though."

He sat. "The Avalonians believe it is possible, so they are willing to try," he stated. "How are you? Not to mention the others of your people here?"

"Personally, I'm happy and content, as are they," she admitted, and then perked as her eyes picked up movement from the vineyard. On seeing the young woman in the mottled green-gold-and-black uniform with the boonie hat and combat boots, not to mention the webbing and the rifle in hand, she then smiled. "Now, that's a sight I haven't seen in quite a long time," she admitted as she watched Henrietta calmly release the magazine of her weapon, slipping that into a pouch before she stopped, rested the rifle between her legs and pulled the cartridge handle to eject the round that was in the chamber, catching it with her hand before it got lost. Slinging her weapon, she then slipped the spare round back in the magazine where it had been before she smiled pleasantly at Guinan. "Almost like a Vulcan in many ways . . . "

"But even more sensitive to things than a Betazoid," Picard noted. "Two of her sister guardsmen sensed what was wrong with the 'other' you, then volunteered to come here to help bring you back together through a process they call _satre'cha_, which is quite similar to what Vulcans do with their _katra_, along with the _fal-tor-pan_ ritual."

"And we plan to help the others who had their souls fragmented in the same way as well, Elder Mother," Henrietta stated. "It is the right thing to do in the end."

"We sensed that . . . "

"Oh, Captain!"

Everyone turned. "Sonami-onēsama! Haneko-onēsama!" Henrietta called out.

"We apologise for disturbing you," Seki Haneko stated as she and Koro Sonami bowed respectfully to them. "We came in at the same point Kumomi and Asumi came in. They'll be along in a minute or so; they're talking to Soran-sensei's other-self right now." A chuckle then escaped her. "As usual, Kumomi was thinking ahead of time."

"How so?" Picard asked.

"I asked Robin-san to provide a memory crystal to allow him to be taken within it so we could persuade his other-self to abort his planned destruction of Veridian IV, Captain," a strange voice then hailed, making everyone turn towards the manor house to see Koeru Kumomi and Haru Asumi walk up to them. "He was quite appalled at how far his other-self was willing to go to return to the Nexus. Not to mention the others."

She held up a glowing crystal of diamond meson in her hand. "You're not going to put me into something like that, will you?" Guinan asked.

"Unfortunately, good lady, I could not obtain another crystal; none others had been made by the time we came to get you all," Kumomi said with true regret in her voice. "So you'll have the pleasure of temporarily residing in either my brain or Sonami-san's brain for the few minutes it would take for us to return to the _Enterprise_ to allow _satre'cha_ to occur under supervision so you can reunite with your other-self."

"Will it hurt?" the El-Aurian asked.

"No, unless you suffer from drakonophobia."

"'Drakonophobia?'"

Kumomi smiled. "A fear of dragons." And with that, she opened her normally-closed eyelids to reveal the golden orbs with the reptilian-like slits hidden beneath.

Guinan blinked. "Do you know Harry Potter?"

As Picard laughed, Kumomi smiled as her eyes closed. "I have yet the pleasure to meet the good Master Potter, but I did meet Hermione Granger some months ago when she and her friends came to Japan to help protect our reborn emperor from some rather rude thugs who once fought under the command of the late and unlamented Dark Lord Voldemort many years past." The grin grew wider. "In our universe, of course."

"Really?"

"Kumomi-san, why don't you take care of Guinan-sama?" Sonami then said. "We'll go get Kirk-taisa, then meet up with Hiromi and the others before heading back."

"You just want to get the guy's autograph!" Asumi snapped.

"Do you blame me?" the leader of Seito asked.

More laughter echoed over the scene . . .

* * *

Minutes later . . .

"Well, this didn't seem too difficult," Picard noted.

"A little more chilly here," Haneko mused as everyone – save Kumomi, who had wished herself back aboard _Enterprise_ after she had taken Guinan's soul-fragment into her own mind – took a look around. "Where exactly was Kirk-taisa's cabin?"

"In Idaho; it wasn't too far from where his uncle owned a farm," Picard reported as everyone headed down the pathway towards the distant log cabin home with both Asumi and Henrietta at point, their weapons out and ready. "He bought the cabin just before he took command of the original _Enterprise_ in 2265, selling it when he was asked to become a guest instructor at Starfleet Academy in 2284, a year before the incident with the _Reliant_ when Ambassador Spock was killed, then later revived thanks to the Genesis Project near the end of the year." On sensing Sonami send him a questioning look, he added, "The incident with that odd probe that wished to communicate with humpback whales occurred in the early part of 2285."

"Do you know of an 'Antonia,' Picard-taisa?" Sonami then asked on remembering something. "Kirk-taisa was her boyfriend at the time he was living in this cabin. Or so we know from the movies."

The captain of the _Enterprise_ stopped. "Yes, I believe I do. That sounds like Antonia Salvatori. The captain's uncle had dealings with her family. She was noted to have attended his memorial service at the Academy after the accident."

"Then we'll have to be careful," the leader of Seito warned. "From what we know from _Generations_, Kirk-taisa strongly regretted breaking up with Antonia-san."

A nod. "Understood."

"There he is," Asumi called out, pointing.

Picard perked on hearing that warning, and then hearing the sounds of wood being split in half by a falling blade, looked to his right and down . . .

. . . to see a living legend.

"_Mon Dieu_ . . .!" he whispered.

At that very moment, as if he had heard his successor utter out those words, James Tiberius Kirk looked up from chopping wood. Spotting the balding French-born officer by the red-and-black uniform he sported with the arrowhead-shaped communicator on his breast, he smiled. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" he asked as he relaxed himself.

Picard smiled. "Yes . . . yes, it is," he acknowledged as he moved past Haneko and Sonami to walk down and join Kirk by the pile of firewood he had been preparing.

He looked up, then stopped, noting that Kirk was staring past him. Turning, he quickly realised that it was Henrietta Croce in her temperate woodland CADPATs that had caught the other captain's attention. Before Picard could say anything though, Kirk set aside his axe and then walked over to stare closely at the guardsman. "My God!" he said. "You don't see _that_ model of uniform outside the Starfleet Marines Museum at Petawawa!" He then turned back to Picard. "Some sort of time-travel casualty?"

Surprised that the presence of the young woman from another dimension had so rattled the veteran explorer of the previous century from his preparing firewood that he was effectively concentrating on the "business" at hand, Picard smiled. "Actually, she – and the other ladies with me – are both temporal- and dimension-displacement casualties. From the year 2010 in their universe."

Kirk tensed. "The mirror universe?"

A sigh. "Fortunately, not _that_ one."

Kirk chuckled, and then he perked as Henrietta saluted him. "Guardsman Henrietta Croce, Captain Kirk. First Battalion of Her Majesty's Canadian Guards."

Kirk nodded. "Assigned to a company yet?"

"No, sir, but I plan to be a rifleman in either 1, 2, 3 or 4 Companies. I've yet to undergo either the Soldier Qualification or the basic military occupational training course for my chosen trade, sir."

That surprised the veteran explorer from another time. "Why wear regimental hat badges then? If I recall, you don't start wearing them until after you're considered qualified at least to Level Three at a battle school. Unless you're a militia soldier . . . "

"No, sir, I'm Regular Force, not reserve. The reserve forces of the Regiment will no doubt consist of the Governor General's Foot Guards as the Fifth Battalion and the Canadian Grenadier Guards as _le Sixième Bataillon_," Henrietta stated. "But given that in our universe, we just reformed the First Battalion, all those who are willing to become part of it are being allowed to re-badge right away. And since I volunteered to become part of the battalion before doing my BMQ, the commanding officer permitted us to put on the badges since we're taking time to train with the more experienced officers and men before proceeding to the Valcartier Garrison to attending training."

Another laugh. "Amazing. They did that in our universe, too. Allowing the Vandoos to influence the Guards' reformation after the Eugenics Wars." He then perked as his nose slightly twitched. "Do you smell something burning . . .?"

Sonami blinked. "Oh, dear! I think that's your breakfast!"

Kirk jolted, and then he quickly headed towards the cabin, the others moving to follow him. On getting inside, he then stopped, gaping in shock as a smiling woman also in CADPAT temperate woodland camouflage stared at him from the kitchenette. "I'm afraid I was a little too late to save your eggs, Kirk-taisa," she apologised as she held up a skillet with a black and smoky burnt mass that were once a pair of scrambled Ktarian eggs with dill weed. "You do have more eggs in your refrigerator, though."

"Rico! What are you doing here? Where's Hiromi-onēsama?" Henrietta demanded as she stormed over to stare at her "cousin," Rico Croce. Also named from a character in _Gunslinger Girl_, Rico was blonde where Henrietta was caramel-haired and the former had blue eyes in lieu of brown. Rico was more of a tomboy than Henrietta, plus she was half-a-head taller than her "cousin." "Why did you abandon your post?"

A sigh. "It's the place where Onē-sama and I went into so we could find our sister with the Staff of Gihan," Rico explained as she moved to clean up the mess. "It's some island out in the eastern part of the Inner Sea between Honshū and Shikoku, near Okayama. But it's an island I never heard of before: Oki-shima. When she read the name, Onē-sama was really horrified. More horrified than I ever sensed from her."

"'Oki-shima' . . .?"

Eyes locked on Sonami, who was now quite pale. "You recognise it?" Haneko asked as she moved to comfort her beloved school leader with a hand on her shoulder.

A shaky nod of the head. "H-hai. That's the main location of _Battle Royale_."

Silence.

"You mean that creepy manga series about this 'program' . . .?" Asumi began.

"Hai! I know Hiromi knows of it; Ataru-kun collected the whole series." Sonami gave her friends and the others a wry grin. "Pretty girls, of course." As Haneko and Asumi both chuckled, she then looked at Rico. "Wait! The girl with the Staff of Gihan is there now! That means that whoever she is, she might be patterned after one of the _Battle Royale_ female cast." She then scowled. "Who could that be, though . . .?"

"From what Onē-sama could sense, our sister there was at the very centre of the island," Rico explained, and then she frowned. "Wait . . . " she breathed out before her eyes widened. "She mentioned a name. 'Mizuho!' Do you know of that girl?"

Sonami blinked, and then she moaned. "Oh, gods, no . . .!"

"Who is it?" Asumi asked.

"Inada Mizuho," Sonami explained. "She was one of Ataru-kun's favourite characters from that series. Borderline schizophrenic; the manga actually describes her as a 'loon.' She was one of the ones killed by the main villain of the series, Kiriyama Kazuo." She then scowled. "I don't know much about the story, so I can't say anything more. But if this Mizuho was modelled after the girl from that manga . . . "

"And she has a literal doomsday weapon with her right now!" Haneko said as her grip on the Reienkyo tightened. "Oh, _joy_! This gets better by the minute!"

"Wait a sec'! I know how we can handle her!"

Eyes locked on Asumi. "How?" Picard asked.

"The other two Avalonians that we found in this place! If the one Hiromi's going after now was modelled after this Inada girl, the other two might . . . "

"Be modelled after two of Mizuho-san's friends from that story!" Sonami concluded, and then she hummed. "Okay! I know what to do!"

She closed her eyes . . . and in a flash of light, she vanished. "**_GENTOKU!_**" Haneko screamed out as Kirk's jaw dropped in shock on noting that one of his visitors had just disappeared like that! "**_COME BACK HERE, YOU . . .!_**"

Another flash of light. "I'm back!"

"Hey! Where are we?" a strange woman's voice called out.

Everyone turned to the doorway . . .

. . . where a smiling Sonami now stood, framed on both sides with very pretty girls looking to be in the last year of middle school to the Japanese natives already in the cabin. Dressed in dark blue seifuku similar to the model used at Tomobiki High School, both girls looked quite healthy and well, even if they were now quite confused on finding themselves in this strange place. The one to Sonami's left, a wavy raven-haired girl with blue eyes, then turned to her friend, who also had raven hair (tied in two thick French braids) and blue eyes (behind reading glasses); she also had freckles on her face. "Weren't we at the Flip Side concert just now?" she demanded.

"We should be!" the other girl asserted as she took a deep breath. "You don't think Mizuho's doing something with that creepy staff?"

"I don't know! I still think this is some weird dream . . .!"

"Actually, girls, it's a different type of dream."

Both turned to stare at the balding man in the red-and-black uniform standing nearby . . . and then they gaped. "**_PATRICK STEWART?_**" they cried out.

Picard jerked. "Who is he?"

Sonami giggled, which made the two girls she had brought with her spin around and squawk on noting she was there. "Well, Captain Picard, believe it or not, Sir Patrick Stewart was the man who played you in _Star Trek - The Next Generation_," Henrietta then offered. "He's a classically-trained British actor from Yorkshire who worked as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon for twenty years before he finally landed your role in _The Next Generation_. Which I find strangely ironic as your predecessor's actor in our universe, William Shatner, was a Canadian actor from Montréal who worked at the Stratford Festival in the city of the same name in Ontario for several years before he got into television work."

Picard considered that, and then he chuckled as Kirk gazed on the other captain, a look of recognition and realisation slowly dawning on his face. "I assume such actors were specifically chosen because of their experience on the stage."

"In some cases, yes," Haneko stated with a grin.

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"Oh, Mizuho, why . . .?"

That was the bespectacled girl to Sonami's right; she was now moaning as she gripped the sides of her head, tears spilling down her face. "No, Kaori, wait!" the other girl then said. "I don't think Mizuho has anything to do with this!"

"What do you mean?" Asumi stated.

The girl smiled as she held her hand up . . . in the Vulcan salute. "I'm a Trekker, too, Onē-san. Even if we were in the Greater East Asia Republic back in our universe, _Star Trek_ was seen as an acceptable form of entertainment since it always espoused peace." She then stopped before her eyes widened. "Oh, no . . .!"

"What?" Haneko demanded.

The girl looked around, and then she blinked on seeing something on the wall. Walking over, she then read, "'U.S.S. _Enterprise_. Starship Class. San Francisco Fleet Yards.'" She blinked before turning to stare at the man in the older-style uniform. "Kirk-taisa . . . " she whispered before gazing at his successor. "Picard-taisa, too . . . " A look around, and then she asked, "Are we in the Nexus?"

Picard blinked, and then he nodded. "Yes, we are."

The girl took that in, and then she moaned. "HOW?"

"Well, before we start sharing stories, why don't we have breakfast first?"

Eyes locked on Rico Croce, who was busy now preparing scrambled eggs with dill weed and several other vegetables. "What made you say that?" Kirk asked.

The blonde would-be sniper smiled. "Captain Kirk, didn't you tell Doctor McCoy when you were marooned in the cave on the Regula planetoid in 2285 that no matter what happens when something goes wrong, you need to think about survival first?"

"Yes, I did." He then blinked. "How did you know that?"

"That is quite a story in itself," Picard said as he came up to stand beside the other captain, nodding permission to Rico to carry on. "Let me ask you this, Captain Kirk: Did you ever read the _Harry Potter_ books when you were younger?"

Kirk gazed at him . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_, Guinan's quarters . . .

"How are you feeling, Guinan?"

Gazing at Deanna Troi, the El-Aurian bartender blinked before she nodded. "For the first time in so long, more complete then I have _**ever**_ felt," she stated, and then her eyes fell on Koeru Kumomi. "Thank you so much, Lord Shùnpíng."

"**Do not thank me, Lady Guinan! Thank all those born of the blood of the third world of Sen'a for having such morals . . . even if their long-dead sires succumbed to the madness that drove them to create such ugly weapons as the _Haijo-ju_ in the first place**," the dragon-possessed tōshi declared before her eyes returned to their normal blue and then she closed them. "It was our pleasure. I pray that the rest of your life will be much more peaceful and pleasant than what you've experienced to date."

"What about the others?" William Riker asked.

"At the point I left them, they were planning to go retrieve Kirk-taisa, Riker-chūsa," Kumomi answered. "While I cannot actually sense them, I believe they have made it to that point in the mission and are preparing to go after the other Avalonians in there." A sigh. "Though I must confess, with this Staff of Gihan in play now . . . "

"Mizuho won't hurt you."

Eyes locked on Guinan. "You know of her?" Michelle Anderson asked.

"The part of me that was in the Nexus encountered her almost the instant she and her friends got in there," the older woman replied. "Their names are Inada Mizuho, Minami Kaori and Etō Megumi. Mizuho is the one that has the Staff of Gihan with her as we're speaking. And if what I sensed of them is anywhere close to the truth, they've been through something that would even make the Borg seem nice."

"Wait! What were their names again?"

That was Ki Tsukihana. "Inada Mizuho, Minami Kaori and Etō Megumi," Kumomi repeated as she "stared" close-eyed at the young genius. "Do you recognise them?"

"Yeah! They're three of the characters from _Battle Royale_; Ataru-oniisan collected the manga and Hiromi-onēsan has a copy of them scanned into her personal server on _Haida_!" A shrug. "She has a sort of love-hate relationship with that series. All really interesting characters, but save for the two stars, they all get killed off before the end!" A sigh. "Then again, that was the whole point . . . "

"Tsukihana, can you transmit a copy of that manga here?"

Eyes locked on Data. "Sure I could! Why?"

The android sighed. "Given that we are also dealing with a sentient weapons system with virtually unlimited capabilities, we would be wise to know what the mental states of Miss Inada, Miss Minami and Miss Etō are," he explained.

Tsukihana blinked, and then he nodded. "Five minutes?"

"Make it quick," Riker ordered.

"Hai!"

* * *

The Nexus, Captain Kirk's cabin . . .

For all their experiences and all their training, both Jean-Luc Picard and James Tiberius Kirk were not prepared for what they learned from Etō Megumi and Minami Kaori.

"_Mon Dieu_ . . . that you **survived** something like **_that_**!"

Megumi shrugged. "Well, technically, Picard-taisa, in a way . . . none of us save Noriko-chan really DID survive!"

"Incredible!" Kirk breathed out. "A weapon that could warp Reality . . . and actually reach out to other dimensions and timelines, then seize people's living spirits to transport them back to the point where the weapon actually was . . .!" He shook his head. "And I thought what Carol and David came up with was quite incredible!" A laugh. "I doubt even the Guardian of Forever or V'Ger could equal that type of capability!"

"How exactly did Mizuho-chan seize the Staff?" Haneko asked.

Kaori and Megumi exchanged a look, and then the former sighed. "Well, most of the girls from the other _Program_ survivors we've managed to 'rescue' over the last year or so don't know this, but Mizuho confided to all of us in the class shortly after we all got free of the gestation tubes that made our new bodies for us," she explained. "The guy who 'saved' us was this really perverted old creep. Like the bastard that raped Mitsuko when she was a kid! He wanted pretty slaves based on us – with the guys transformed into girls – who could act exactly like the characters in that manga series you all know of." A sigh. "He had a friend who knew of the Staff of Gihan; that guy was a member of the 'Guardians' group that made sure this 'Church of Lum' stayed in power on that planet as their 'one true faith.' He convinced his friend to loan the Staff over to him a week before the Noukiites and the Yehisrites came to liberate the factory. The bodies got made, but then the Staff actually yanked our souls at the moment of our deaths in our home universe into our new bodies. Or in the case of Noriko-chan – and later, the other female _Program_ survivors ever since it all started up back in 1947 – at a time shortly after their 'episode' ended and they were alone."

"When the fighting was going on, he found out that Hiromi-sempai and her siblings were involved in the liberation," Megumi added. "He sensed it real quick that the Moroboshi siblings knew about us, so he decided to free us and use us to make them trip up and falter before he could kill them with the Staff." A pause. "He freed Mizuho first. And since he didn't realise she was the _real_ Inada Mizuho, she used that to seize the Staff and overwhelm him, driven by her concern for us and her realising what he was planning to do to all of us." A sigh. "The Staff acknowledged her as its new 'controller' and she disintegrated him before letting all of us out."

"Why didn't you make contact with Hiromi then?" Sonami asked.

The Avalonians in the room then tensed on feeling the mortal fear both of the former Shiroiwa Junior High School senior students now felt at being found out. "We were afraid Sempai was going to send us back to our universe," Kaori whispered.

"Onē-sama would never DO such a thing!"

Eyes locked on a weeping Henrietta Croce, who was now being comforted by her "cousin" Rico. "Henrietta-chan's right, girls," Sonami stated. "Atop that, since your bodies were created in **our** universe, there's simply no way for you to permanently return to **your** universe. The laws of interdimensional travel forbid it."

The fear in Megumi and Kaori instantly vanished. "Really?" the latter gasped. "We can stay?"

"Hai!" the leader of Seito said, nodding.

Both of them shuddered, and then they cried out in relief and sheer joy as they hugged each other, sobbing as the joy of that moment in their strange lives settled in. The others remained respectfully silent as Kaori and Megumi celebrated their true freedom from the hell they had been through over the past year of their lifetime, especially those three hellish days on Oki-shima. Watching this, Kirk then gazed on his successor as captain of the _Enterprise_. "Like the Questors, aren't they?"

"Yes," Picard answered, and then he perked. "How do you . . .?"

Kirk gazed at him, and then he sighed. Even if he was technically "retired" from Starfleet, the veteran explorer still felt himself obliged to honour certain secrets he had learned over the years. "I take it Section 31 is still keeping a cap on that particular secret?" he asked. As Picard nodded, the other captain then said, "Spock planned to have my former helmsman, Lieutenant Valeris, transform into a Vulcan-form Questor under the name 'T'Eris' shortly after the Khitomer Conference. The last I heard, he was going to be helped by General Dujduy, a Klingon-form Questor who served then as the true head of Imperial Intelligence. It was done at the request of Ambassador Sarek's godmother, Roy Pannan. She was going to be groomed as the new head of the House of Surak, Sarek's and Spock's overall family, so that T'Pau could go into private study at Gol."

Picard smiled. "The Lady T'Eris still is head of that House. I mind-melded with Ambassador Sarek during his last diplomatic mission five years ago." At Kirk's concerned look, the other captain sighed. "He was in the advanced stages of Bendii Syndrome. He passed away two years later." A shake of the head. "I didn't enjoy bringing that news to Ambassador Spock when it finally happened."

Kirk perked. "Where is Spock?"

"He's on Romulus, Kirk-taisa," Megumi answered. "Spock-taishi is – up to the time when his father passed away – trying to find a way to reconcile the differences between the Vulcans and their cousins, thus letting them reunite as one race again."

A chuckle. "If I heard any other Vulcan was trying that, I'd think they had totally lost sense of their logic," Kirk stated. "But since it's Spock . . . "

"I believe he will succeed," Picard noted.

"Agreed."

"So what happened after you all got out of the tubes?" Asumi then asked the two survivors of _The Program_. "And how'd that get you and Inada here?"

"Well, blame Kanai Izumi for that, Sempai," Kaori replied. "Her brother was a BIG fan of _The Program_ so she had a pretty good idea of what the classes before ours were like. She knew all the details about many of the episodes that were run practically right from the time it started back in 1947. She told us about what she knew of the series, and . . . well . . . " A shrug. "We sort of thought it was unfair that WE survived and all the people from the other episodes didn't. So we persuaded Mizuho to use the Staff to bring their spirits through the _Te'a_ to the factory."

"How many in total?" Haneko asked.

"Well, the average was about 42 people per class. Fifty shows a year since 1950; before that, it was forty-seven shows a year," Megumi explained. "Mizuho finally got a total of 108,822 participants right up to our class in the middle of our year: 66,381 girls and 42,441 boys."

Silence.

"Which explains why you needed two whole gestation towers," Sonami said.

"Hai," Kaori affirmed with a nod. "Since we were scared of you trying to send us back – not knowing that we really couldn't go back and stay there – we all hit on the idea of going back to our universe under our own power. One: To find DNA samples of all the men who had died; there was no way the Staff could override the main programming of the bioroid factory's gestation computers unless it had blood or other cell samples from all the guys to help serve as a roadmap to clone their bodies. And two . . . "

"To forever destroy the 'Greater East Asia Republic,'" Megumi finished. "That was Shimizu Hirono's suggestion. Hell, we were all literally 'dead' in that universe and _The Program_ was no treat for ANY of us, even those like Mitsuko who decided they had no choice but to play to win to survive." A shrug. "Thanks to that Niphentaxian battleship that was docked right beside where our gestation towers were inside the factory, we knew we had a chance. I guess that once the Staff learned that . . . "

"They were sent off, along with a ship of nearly-equal firepower to the _Haida_ and her sisterships in the Earth Defence Force. With the unfortunate side-effect of _Haida_, not to mention you three, being brought to our universe," Picard concluded. "Since you're a fan of the stories bases on my ship's adventures, Miss Etō, the chances were there that the Staff locked onto that when it moved to fulfil your desires, then searched the Multiverse to find us."

Megumi blinked, and then she nodded. "Hai, that would make sense. And I'm sure Mizuho wouldn't have minded it at all in the end . . . "

"What do you mean, Megumi-chan?" Sonami asked.

A sigh. "Mizuho . . . loves us very much, Sempai," Megumi explained. "We know what being an Avalonian means; we were programmed just like all of you when you got your new bodies, right?" As the three Seito High School tōshi all nodded, she then said, "It's not just the emotional love she feels for us – and we for her – being the class 'daydreamers' ended up making us feel as time went on." At Picard's curious look, she added, "That's what the others in our class called us." She then took a very deep breath. "It's a physical love we feel for each other. It's a spiritual love as well. You could almost think of us as bond-mates, in fact." A smirk. "Except for the fact that I'm also lovers with Sōma Mitsuko as Kaori here is lovers with Shimizu Hirono." A giggle. "As the 'Warrior-Priestess Prexia Dikianne Mizuho,' she saw us as fellow warriors serving Ahura Mazdā, the God of Light. We played along with it; we knew that, despite how it creeped us out at times, she meant no harm by . . . "

"Wait!"

Eyes locked on Jim Kirk. "What is it, Captain?" Henrietta asked.

"Ahura Mazdā," the veteran explorer stated. "If I recall my Earth religious history correctly, he's the central divine figure of Zoroastrianism."

"Which means we have a way of dealing with her, appealing to her faith in her god to make her make the right decisions," Picard stated. "Not just about herself and all her friends, but to all the other _Program_ victims as well."

"No doubt, Onē-sama – if she is as knowledgeable about Mizuho as she seems – will know about that, Captain," Rico then stated. "When I left her to find all of you, she had placed herself in a tree about a hundred metres away from Mizuho's position to watch her. She just . . . " A shudder. "She just sat there watching her."

"Rico-chan, she is effectively grandmaster-rank in Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū," Haneko stated. "Even if she is not as ruthless or as cold as Negako-sama, she does know all the movements and fighting forms, all built up over a thousand years and more ever since the seed that eventually became Negako-sama was first created by the Immortal Master." A nod. "She will know how to deal with Mizuho-chan."

"She won't face her – and that _thing – _alone."

Eyes locked on Sonami. "Agreed," Asumi stated, nodding.

"Agreed," Picard added, and then he sighed. "Captain Kirk?"

Kirk perked. "Captain Picard?" He then smiled. "Captain of the _Enterprise_?"

The French-born explorer gazed on his American-born predecessor, surprised he had deduced that. "Yes."

"Close to retirement?"

Surprised to hear that question, Picard shook his head. "I hadn't really planned on retiring anytime soon, to be honest with you."

"Well, let me give you a piece of advice," Kirk then said. "_Don't_!"

As the visitors from another universe all fought back knowing grins, the veteran commander of two previous starships named _Enterprise_ added, "Don't let them _promote_ you. Don't let them _transfer_ you. Don't let them do _anything_ that takes you off the bridge of that ship . . . " A smile. "Because while you're there, you can make a difference." He then paused as he looked around. "That's what made me feel odd about this place even if it became a wild fantasy come true to me. Like that."

Heads turned, and then everyone gaped on seeing a Great Dane sitting at the doorway leading outside. "Butler-chan!" Megumi called out.

Picard gazed on the dog – he hadn't know about Kirk ever having a pet – and then he turned back to the other captain. "You were practically forced to resign your commission after Khitomer by Grand Admiral Finnegan when they decided that Starfleet needed a new image in the wake of what had been discovered by you and your shipmates in the wake of Chancellor Gorkon's murder," he said, a touch of anger in his voice. "You offered to help rebuild the command structure after Cartwright and his conspirators across the Neutral Zone tried so hard to perpetuate a war that one side never wanted and the other side simply couldn't afford anymore. But because you understood some of the more basic tenets of command – which sometimes demanded that you ignore everything you were taught at the Academy, even the Prime Directive – you were not seen as the 'right' sort of man to lead Starfleet into the future." A sigh. "Finnegan tricked you into retiring . . . and then it blew up in his face with the _Enterprise_-B's launch." A smile. "At least Captain Harriman understood that even if he was nervous at having you there at that launch; he confessed it in his memoirs later. But your 'death' in saving all those people inspired him to support his father when he made his own interest in the post of Commander-in-Chief publicly known after Finnegan was forced to resign."

Kirk chuckled. "Well, old Blackjack was pretty much a seat-of-the-pants type himself when he commanded the _Constitution_ when I was on the first _Enterprise_." A shrug. "He had a better tolerance for headquarters work, though."

A sigh. "What I'm saying, Captain, is that you can reclaim your rank and place in Starfleet again," Picard stated. "Yes, a lot's changed in seventy-eight years. The technology alone has improved by leaps and bounds in ways I doubt you could have ever imagined. But a lot of the principles we adhere to – principles YOU above all else espoused – are the same." A smile. "Come help made a difference again. Please."

Kirk smiled. "Who am I to refuse the captain of the _Enterprise_?"

A startled laugh made them gaze at Megumi. "What's so funny?" Haneko asked.

The younger girl waved them down. "Sorry . . . "

"I assume this movie you watched had those words in it?" Kirk asked.

A giggle. "Almost the same, sir."

Laughter filled the room. "Well," Picard then said as he straightened his tunic. "Miss Etō, do you and Miss Minami know a place on that island where we can go to and not overtly alarm Miss Inada?" he then asked the two _Program_ veterans.

Both of them smiled. "Follow us," Kaori bade as light swept them away . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES:  
**

1) Jean-Luc Picard's home town of **La Barre** was confirmed in the _TNG_ fourth-season story "Family." It is confirmed that James Kirk's uncle did own a farm in Idaho (as was mentioned in _Generations_) but the location of his mountain cabin was never confirmed in the movie.

2) **HAHO** (High Altitude, High Opening) and **HALO** (High Altitude, Low Opening) jumps are various forms of free-fall parachuting used by special forces soldiers. As a former Joint Task Force Two assaulter, CWO Marc Duchesne would know both. Jim Kirk was depicted as having performed an orbital skydive in a deleted scene from _Generations_.

3) **Edward Jellico** first appeared in the sixth-season two-part episode "Chain of Command." These where the episodes where Jean-Luc Picard was assigned on a secret mission to the Cardassian colony world of Celtris.

4) The first meeting between Jean-Luc Picard and Guinan was depicted in the _Stargazer_ novel _Oblivion_ (ISBN 0-743-44854-5, published in 2003) by Michael Jan Friedman.

5) Translations: **Satre'cha** – Literally "the passing-on back" but more commonly translated as "the re-fusion;" **Fal-tor-pan** – The Vulcan version of _satre'cha_ as depicted in _The Search for Spock_; **BMQ** – **Basic Military Qualification**, the title of the 13-week long basic training course in the Canadian Forces for non-commissioned members (prospective officers undergo the **Basic Military Officers Qualification** [**BMOQ**], which lasts 11 weeks for those attending the Royal Military College of Canada or 15 weeks for Direct Entry Officers or officer cadets attending a civilian university).

6) **Antonia Salvatori** is a background character from _Generations_. Her family name was not mentioned in the movie; such was taken from the stuntwoman who portrayed her, Lynn Salvatori.

7) The **Soldier Qualification** (**SQ**) is the Canadian Army's basic environmental training course. Those who will seek to become members of the Royal Canadian Infantry Corps, the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps, the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery or join other Army-affiliated trades must pass the SQ before beginning TQ3 trades training; the course is meant to familiarise a soldier with the basics of life in the Army and the basic infantry weapons beyond the C7A2 rifle. The course length is 20 days (four weeks) and is normally done at one of the Land Forces Training Centres (which are located in Valcartier in Québec, Gagetown in New Brunswick, Meaford in Ontario or Wainwright in Alberta).

8) The **Governor General's Foot Guards** (**GGFG**) in Ottawa and the **Canadian Grenadier Guards** (**CGG**) in Montréal are the senior-ranking Militia infantry regiments in the Canadian Army. The former regiment was formed in 1861 and currently is an element of the **33rd Canadian Brigade Group** (the Militia in eastern and northern Ontario). The latter regiment was formed in 1860 and currently is an element of the _34e Groupe-Brigade du Canada_ (**34th Canadian Brigade Group**, the Militia in and around Montréal). During the time the Canadian Guards were an active element of the Army, the GGFG was sub-titled "5th Battalion, The Canadian Guards" and the CGG was sub-titled "6th Battalion, The Canadian Guards." In the universe of this story, the GGFG would – on being mobilised for a general war – form part of the **16th Canadian Mechanised Brigade Group**. The CGG would, in such a circumstance, become an element of the **12th Canadian Mechanised Brigade Group**.

9) **Rico Croce** is another _Gunslinger Girl_ character. She is seen as Henrietta's adopted cousin since her namesake's _fratello_ Jean Croce is the older brother to Jose Croce, the _fratello_ of Henrietta's namesake.

10) People who are fans of all of Gene Roddenberry's works should know where the term **Questor** comes from. The character of Questor – an android similar to Data – appeared in the television film _The Questor Tapes_, first shown in 1974 on NBC (the same network that played the original Star Trek series). I took the concept of Questor, converted it into a gynoid (female-form version of an android), upgraded it to a "synthezoid"-like character similar to **Shogai Dakejinzō** from _The Senior Year_, then cloaked it with an aura of mystery through the concept of the "Silence" (like Questor himself seeking the reason for his origins as shown in the film).

11) **Valeris**' history as noted in this story corresponds roughly to the background that went into the novel _Cast No Shadow_ (ISBN 1-451-60717-2, published in 2011) by James Swallow, though her fate is much different in this story than depicted in that novel.

12) **Flip Side** is the name of the band that **Minami Kaori** really liked; she had a massive crush on the lead singer of the band, **Kenzaki Jun'ya**.

13) Certain elements of the _Battle Royale_ characters' behaviour and interests (such as the knowledge **Kanai Izumi**'s brother had about _The Program_) were inspired by a beautiful fanfic named _Heads is Heads_, which is listed as one of my favourites at the website here. Written by **Technomad**, it postulates what might have happened if **Kiriyama Kazuo** had flipped heads (in lieu of tails, as he was said to have done in Chapter 10 of the manga) and elected to resist _The Program_.

14) The number of "episodes" to _The Program_ run per year was inspired by the _Battle Royale_ movie, which my friend Mike Smith told me about. In the manga series and the novel, _The Program_ was started in 1947 and was run once a year, one class chosen from a total of fifty candidate classes. I confused the numbers when I wrote this part of the story, but then decided to keep it as is, partially to emphasise the difference between the manga and the "reality" of the Greater East Asia Republic . . . and partially to emphasise the horror of what _The Program_ ultimately did to people.

15) Jim's fate post-_The Undiscovered Country_ and pre-_Generations_ is inspired by another fanfic I have marked as one of my favourites at this website: **Jungle Kitty**'s _The Siege Perilous_. I don't bother with that author's insertion of the character of Suzanne Brandt in that story as that particular person is part of her fanfic series. However, the idea of politics playing into forcing a still-healthy man like Jim out of the service – especially in the wake of the whole Khitomer affair – did strike me as a typical "politically correct" thing to do, so I used it here. I did change what Jungle Kitty did with **John Harriman** though, reflecting what was written about him in various novels set after the events of the first act of _Generations_.


	7. The Servant of the Lord of Light

. . . to bring them to a dark and abandoned classroom.

"Where are we?" Kirk asked.

"This is the room at the abandoned school where we were all gathered for 'homeroom class,'" Kaori explained. "When we were brought here, the memories of this place – and what happened to Fumiyo-chan and Yoshitoki-kun thanks to that bastard Kamon; he was the jerk that was running _The Program_ at the time – were so bad that I wished we were at a Flip Side concert. Megumi came with me; that was just about twenty minutes – I think! – before Sonami-sempai found us." A sighed as she walked over to the seat where, in her universe, Fujiyoshi Fumiyo had sat and later had been struck down by Kamon Yonemi with a knife to the head. "I guess Mizuho stayed here."

"She told us that during our 'episode' of the _Program_, she went to the big tree at the centre of the island to set up a shrine to Ahura Mazdā to pray for us and pray for her safety. That's where Kazuo-kun found her later," Megumi added as she scanned the room, noting there was nothing available for them to use as weapons.

By then, Rico had her tricorder out. "I've got a location for both Onē-sama and Mizuho," she then stated, pointing. "Mizuho is exactly 327 metres in that direction." A sigh. "And Onē-sama is exactly where she had placed herself when I left her."

"Then let's join her," Kirk advised.

The others nodded as they moved to walk out of the room. Minutes later, they stepped outside, finding themselves in a morning situation on this island located in the south-central part of Japan. The weather was warm but breezy, an overcast day with thunderheads to the far west. A glance around revealed a considerable amount of damage in the near distance, plus blood on the ground, though no bodies could be seen. "Damn!" Megumi breathed out. "To believe Yutaka-kun and Shinji-kun did THAT!"

Kaori looked, and then she nodded. "Yeah."

"What happened?" Picard asked.

"Amateur bomb meant to kill Kamon and his friends; they were based here," Megumi explained, thumbing the school building behind them. "Well, shall we go?"

"Let's," Haneko stated as she gripped the Reienkyo tightly.

They headed off, with Henrietta in the lead and a loaded C7A2 at her shoulder as she scanned around for potential threats; even if Rico's tricorder hadn't picked up any other life signs, there was the chance of a threat made with the energy of the Nexus itself given that Inada Mizuho's very soul – a soul tortured by both undiagnosed schizophrenia and dementia – had literally shaped this place within the hyperluminal space-time anomaly. After some minutes of walking, Henrietta then stopped, waving everyone to crouch down and hide behind trees. As soon as she noted they had done that, she then pointed up and to her right. People looked . . . and then they relaxed on seeing a woman in jeans and a T-shirt sitting calmly on the branch of a large tree close to Henrietta's position. As the others relaxed, Moroboshi Hiromi then turned to gaze their way, raising a finger to tap her closed lips in a shushing move. Noting that, the others all nodded before Haneko passed her bladed polearm to Sonami before she crouched-walked over to the foot of the tree now bearing her old emperor from her first life as Guān Yǔ. Once she paused to make sure she hadn't been heard, the Seito senior then carefully climbed up to perch herself right next to Hiromi, keeping as quiet as she could. "Welcome to the party," Hiromi whispered, pointing.

Haneko looked . . .

. . . and then froze on seeing a nude woman who was quite well-developed for her chronological age standing amidst an intricately carved series of ruts in the ground, all glowing with energy as she bowed towards the large tree at the centre of this scene. And while it seemed rather quaint, what had the hairs on the veteran fighter's neck standing on end was the twisted metal staff as tall as Inada Mizuho was currently in the would-be warrior-priestess' right hand, it topped with a ball of almost-totally black mesonium crystal as big as a clenched fist, framed by a crescent moon-shaped sculpture of metal that reminded Haneko of the material that went into _Haida_'s hull.

And that ball was GLOWING as bright as a sun!

"Her ki's right off the scale," she hissed.

"I know. From what I can tell, she – or the Staff – may be trying to absorb all of the Nexus' energy into its focusing crystal," Hiromi advised.

Haneko paled. "Majesty, if she succeeds in pulling ALL the energy from the Nexus into that thing, that will kill all of Guinan-sama's friends still here!" She didn't need to mention that all of the visitors from the outside universe were likewise as threatened by what was now happening. "We have to stop her before she does that. If she destroys the Nexus and we don't catch him in time, what's to stop Soran-sensei from unleashing his trilithium missile on the Veridian star anyway?"

"I am AWARE of that, Unchō-dono . . .!"

* * *

That moment, 220 light-years in-spin of the Nexus . . .

"She just _said_ it . . .!"

"Patience, Wesley. Let it come to you slowly."

Hearing the advice from the wise humanoid sitting close to him in the middle of the vast meditation chamber in the village of the human colonists now living on the southern continent of Dorvan V, Wesley Crusher could only sigh before he gazed into the small version of the Pool of Prophecy he had created under his new teacher's guidance. "Mizuho's dreamt of Director Moroboshi ever since she and her friends were practically rescued when that factory was taken off Phentax Twelve and allowed to move to their Earth," the former Starfleet Academy third-year student then said. "All she has to do is let the Staff enhance her hearing so she could listen to either Haneko or Asumi call her 'my Emperor' or 'Majesty.' That'll get her to listen to her!"

"This Staff is a weapon of terrible destructive power," another voice stated. "Perhaps it senses the forces the reborn Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn holds within her soul and fears it. If that is so, the young would-be warrior priestess will not hear her."

Both Wesley and the Traveller turned as a beautiful Cardassian woman walked up to them, dressed now in local clothing to appear more welcome among the Terrans who lived on this world. Jeina Tahn – on her coming to this former Federation colony world shortly after the descendants of the fighters of Popé's Rebellion had elected to live their lives in peace under the Union's rule – had first struck the younger Crusher as an atypical Obsidian Order goon-girl, a secret agent who inspired dread fear in all her countrymen by just living. But when she had greeted the Traveller with a show of profound respect and truly honest courtesy that had surprised everyone who had been there at that private meeting at Elder Anthwara's personal home, Wesley later came to admit that all his previous conceptions of the Cardassians needed to be put into a transporter and beamed out at maximum particle dispersal. Even when he was finally told the incredible truth about Jeina being a synthetic life-form – a "Cardassian-form Questor" as she gladly called herself without irony – he found himself accepting her with the same openness he had been taught in Starfleet Academy when it came to first contact situations. Even if the "first contact" – thanks in part to the actions of the Order's Federation counterparts, Section 31 of Starfleet Intelligence – with such a race like the Questors was kept secret from the general public with levels of both security and obscurity that even impressed another Obsidian Order operative he had met later, Jeina's personal assistant Mlin Garak, whom he had also befriended.

"You are right," the Traveller noted, and then he turned to gaze in amusement at his new student. "How would you approach this, Wesley?"

Wesley blinked, and then he gazed on Jeina. She was quite stunningly attractive for a Cardassian, with a mane of glossy black hair that flowed to mid-back and deep grey eyes piercing a face that was well-shaped by her adopted race's own aesthetic standards. And even if – in one sense of the term – she was an inducted sentient like Data and Lal, she clearly wasn't bothered by the esoteric beliefs of the Traveller and his race. "Faith is an energy as strong and as durable as the power of a sun, young traveller," she had said after being invited to a joint Cardassian-Terran homage to the living spirits of this world, which she attended along with other theologically-minded members of the military force now stationed on the other side of the planet from the colony from Earth. "You see it and read about it every day. Just because I may be more akin to machines than organic sentients under this skin doesn't mean I don't appreciate the power of faith and the many wonders it can do when used right."

"Prayers," he concluded. "But I can't do it alone."

"You wish assistance?" Jeina asked.

He nodded. "Good," the Traveller said with an approving nod . . .

* * *

Minutes later . . .

"We came as soon as you called for us, Lakanta."

The Traveller smiled. "You need not address me as that anymore, Elder."

Anthwara smiled. "You are that to us even if you were born under a different star and many years before I entered this life," he said as the other elders of the village – along with a small contingent of Cardassian personnel, both military and Obsidian Order – walked into the meditation room. "Now, what has happened?" he asked as they all moved to sit around the Pool of Prophecy. "I sense great distress in your young and bright student here," he then said as he smiled at Wesley.

"Um, Elder, are you part-Betazoid?" Wesley asked.

Everyone laughed. "The Tau Alphans and the Questors are not the only ones gifted with the ability to see, hear and feel beyond the normal senses, Wesley," the elder of the tribe stated as he gave the former Starfleet ensign a knowing look.

"You flatter me, sir," Jeina stated.

"It is not flattery, my dear," Anthwara stated. "It is a simple acknowledgement that despite the fact that you are touched by a power that makes you both machine and woman - as the others of your kind are so touched - the Great Spirit has also blessed you and your sisters across the galaxy in other ways as well. Even if He also tests you by denying you all the knowledge of your very origins." A smile crossed his face. "I had a dream before you came to us, Jeina. A dream where you and your sisters on Qo'noS, on Romulus, on Andor and on other worlds would learn the truth behind the first life of your beloved sister now living on Vulcan." He nodded. "Though I believe she was born in the land of the Innu in her first life when she was still human."

Jeina perked. "Roy Pannan, you mean?"

A nod. "Yes, that is who I mean."

"The Innu? They live in Labrador and Québec, right?" Wesley asked.

"They do," Wakasa said with a smile. "A good people they are."

Wesley blinked. "What is it, Wesley?" Mlin, a female Cardassian a little older than what Jeina herself appeared to be, with more grey hair than black and a different shape to her face, asked. And while she was quite loyal to the Order and her people, she also possessed a strong heart that reminded him of his own mother in a way.

A shake of the head. "A strange theory that just came into my mind when the Elder mentioned his dream, ma'am," he stated. "I need to think about it, though."

"What is the problem?" Kles Haanik, a Cardassian officer who also served as an archon of one of the nearly-lost faiths of his people – in that case, the title served as an equivalent of a Terran Christian "deacon" – then asked.

Wesley explained, using his growing metasenses to control the Pool's images to display what he was speaking of to the others. As the tale was woven, alarm appeared in the eyes of many of the people there, though Anthwara seemed quite calm and content. At the end of the explanation, Kles hummed. "This visitor from another reality sees herself as an archon in her own right to a religion she doesn't understand . . . yet looks upon as her spiritual guide and moral star. Has she been given any sort of guidance as the Traveller gives you, Cadet Crusher?" Even if he had resigned from the Academy, the Cardassian military personnel on Dorvan V still addressed him by rank.

"Not that I can see or sense. Her friends – though they really care for her – find her passion too powerful, too overwhelming, for them to simply sit back, think about it and try to really understand it. Atop that, they have their own relationships with two of their classmates getting in the way." As the others in the room all nodded in understanding, Wesley sighed. "Still, Mizuho believes that this 'great emperor' she dreams of will give her the guidance she needs. In her first life, Director Moroboshi **_was_** an emperor of old China. And given that she was also involved in the Avalonians' liberation from the Niphentaxians, I think Mizuho fixed on her because of her past-life. It's _giri_ in the most pure sense of the word." He looked at the overhead image of the scene on Oki-shima in the Nexus; fortunately for him, the universal translator he had imbedded in his body would allow his use of the ancient Japanese term to be understood by the Cardassians. "Problem is, the director believes with the Staff now involved in this, she has to be really cautious. Mizuho's control over it isn't anywhere close to absolute. And with all of Guinan's friends in there . . . "

"Then we must give the young priestess guidance," Anthwara then said.

Hands were immediately joined, and then the Terrans began to chant in their ancient tongue. The Cardassians – led by Kles – also joined in, chanting in the most ancient dialect of their own strong language as they closed their eyes and focused their hearts, their hopes and their best wishes on the image of the young woman from another dimension. Unseen by them, energy began to shower the scene as the Pool seemed to glow bright, and then Wesley felt his own body suddenly fade from Dorvan V . . .

* * *

. . . to appear in a forest by a great oak tree.

Stunned by the slight shift of gravity – Dorvan V was just different enough from Earth to be noticeable by the former Starfleet ensign – he blinked before focusing on a stylised crucifix on a necklace hanging from average human eye level above the ground. Staring at it, he blinked as he looked around, quickly spotting the glowing ruts in the ground in a lovely circular pattern around the tree. As he then realised where he was, he slowly turned to see a pair of nude human female legs at his eye level. Trying not to react from that rather provocative sight – even if he did care very deeply for Robin Lefler, he was still a twenty-three year old man and quite subject to his own sexual desires – he then closed his eyes before he turned his head up to where the head of the woman standing beside him should be, and then he looked.

"Wil . . . Wheaton . . .?" Inada Mizuho then asked.

He blinked on noting that – despite the clear flash of mental instability that was quite visible in Mizuho's pale blue eyes – there was vast intelligence behind those orbs and under her bob-cut silvery-black hair even if she had nowhere close to his expertise. He then sighed. "No," he stated. "Believe it or not, I'm the man that person played in that two-dim- . . . " He caught himself. "That television series your friend Megumi likes so much." He then gave her his most charming smile.

Silence.

A hand reached down and firmly grasped Wesley's arm, pulling him up so she could stare intently into his deep hazel eyes, and then she pulled her hand away before she reached up to his face. Though he understood what Avalonian telepathy was like – it was virtually the same as Vulcan telepathy, needing physical contact to make it work – Wesley was still quite overwhelmed by the sheer _power_ of that mental contact, though it wasn't enough to make him pass out from the overload. In a way, the energy produced by Mizuho's mind reminded him a lot of the power he felt from that quite addictive "game" the Ktarian agent Etana Jol unleashed on the _Enterprise_ three years ago before Data had come to save him and the others. On remembering that, he then jolted as that force seemed to focus on those memories for a moment before it faded. As he shook his head to clear his mind from the after-effects of Mizuho's mind-probe, Wesley then blinked on hearing her whisper in a near-sob, "'Tis true . . . but how . . .?"

Wesley then smiled. "Well, you can thank your friend here," he said as he waved to the Staff of Gihan, now in Mizuho's left hand. "It seems to be willing to focus on people's desires and dreams. Sort of like this place we're in right now."

More silence.

"But . . . is this not Oki-shima?" Mizuho asked, a touch of fear in her voice.

"Uh, no, it's not," he calmly stated. "But don't worry; this place won't hurt you at all." As she stared at him, quick to sense his truthfulness, he added, "You're in the Nexus, Mizuho. That's the place Captain Kirk was trapped in for so long."

Still more silence.

"Why did I come _here_, then?" she then demanded.

"Well, I don't know," he stated. "I don't really know too much about your universe – both the universe you were born in and the one that sort of 'adopted' you and all your friends – so I really can't say." He then reached over to gently touch her shoulder. "Did you want to go back to your old universe with the others?"

A shake of the head. "Nay. My Master told me in my dreams that He allowed us to escape the dark fate _The Program_ forced on us all because He wished not for that to happen to His Children," she explained. "And the others who were also forced into _The Program_ were also saved because He wished them to be saved as well. While all the others – even my most beloved Megumi and Kaori – feared that the Great Emperor who saved our adopted race from enslavement would send us back to the dark lands of our birth, I knew she would never do that. Still, the others – those who lost their beloved ones to _The Program_ such as the valiant Master Shōgo's most beloved Lady Keiko – wanted our brothers to be restored. They wished it so much, it made my heart truly ache. Yet I would not risk Megumi and Kaori in that accursed land again . . . "

"That's part of why you're here."

She stared at him. "Say on, noble knight of the stars."

"Well, since you wanted to keep them safe, Megumi and Kaori came with you," he said. "Because Megumi knows of that show that told her about my friends from the _Enterprise_ and I, her thoughts brought you all to the Nexus." He then took a deep breath. "And because you wanted the Great Emperor to come to you . . . " He then nodded in the direction where Moroboshi Hiromi was. "She's here, too."

A shocked intake of breath. "No . . .!"

"Oh, don't worry. She's not hurt." As Mizuho blinked, Wesley then smiled as he made a wave of his hand. "Director!" he called out. "It's safe! C'mon over!"

Mizuho looked . . .

. . . and then cried out in horror and surprise on seeing a woman march into the clearing around the tree, a mixture of amusement and annoyance on her face. As the former Shiroiwa Junior High School senior student collapsed to her knees as a shamed sob escaped her, Hiromi closed her eyes for a moment before she gazed on the former _Enterprise_ flight controller. "I do not know whether to _kiss_ you or _curse_ you, Master Wesley," she hissed before taking a deep breath and kneeling before the now-sobbing Mizuho. "Hush, Lady Mizuho! Dry the tears! 'Twas not your fault that your lack of understanding of the Staff made this happen! Come! A noble priestess of the Lord of Light does not behave in this manner, not before those coming to pay tribute!"

Mizuho blinked, and then the strength in her body went as she slumped into the reborn emperor's arms. Immediately, the warm hugs of the poor middle school girl's two best friends also embraced her as people gathered around, with Koro Sonami moving to retrieve Mizuho's discarded seifuku so she could be made presentable. After a shared glance with Hiromi, Seki Haneko scooped the Staff of Gihan from Mizuho's unresisting hands as she continued to weep, wincing slightly as she felt the ancient weapon's on-board battle computer send telepathic probes into her mind. Fortunately for her, years of self-discipline and the strength of her past-self's influence on her soul through her magatama – which was also made of an ebony mesonium mixture – gives the Seito senior the necessary mental strength to fight off the potential influence the Staff's great power could unleash on her. By then, both Jean-Luc Picard and James Kirk had made their way to join the former captain's ex-subordinate by the tree; Wesley had taken Mizuho's pendant off the bark. "Well done, Wesley," Picard then said before he perked. "By the way: How the devil did you get all the way here in the first place?"

Wesley blinked, and then he smiled. "A little bit of faith in the end, sir."

"And faith can move mountains," Sonami said as she walked over to join them. "It seems your good and noble teacher has already implanted that lesson deep within your soul, Master Wesley." As Wesley blushed at her complement, the leader of Seito then took a deep breath. "Well, much that I don't mind visiting a place like this, I think it's high time we got back to the _Enterprise_. Agreed?"

"That, Miss Koro, sounds like an excellent idea," Picard said . . .

* * *

. . . as they found themselves on a familiar starship bridge again.

"CAPTAIN!"

As the people on the _Enterprise_'s bridge all bolted from their chairs to gaze on the small gathering of people that had appeared behind the operations and flight control stations, jaws then dropped on seeing the two other people who had come with them, one who was quite familiar to them thanks to his having been on this ship for some years since her commissioning . . . and the others known well thanks to history books that would soon have to get rewritten in one aspect. "Wesley!" Deanna Troi cried out as she and William Riker came over to join their shipmate's son.

"Don't tell me you've picked up on some tricks your teacher uses," the first officer then said as Wesley accepted the counsellor's embrace, then shook his hand.

"Some. I'm probably going to be spending weeks just trying to understand how I teleported 220 light-years from Dorvan V to the Nexus," Wesley stated.

"Will you require a signal to be passed on to the colony to tell them where you are?" Worf said as he came over to take the former ensign's hand in his own.

"No, they'll know where I am," Wesley assured him. "Thanks, Worf."

"'Worf?'"

Eyes then locked on the surprised-looking officer in the old captain's uniform. Worf turned to gaze on Kirk, and then he nodded. "My grandfather, Captain Kirk."

Kirk blinked, and then he chuckled. "You're Mogh's boy?"

The young Klingon warrior perked. "My father met you?"

"No, I never had that pleasure, but before my 'trial' on Qo'noS and after the whole Khitomer thing, your grandfather told me about his wife and family," Kirk stated. "Mogh was born a year before Praxis was nearly destroyed. After we stopped West from trying to kill Chancellor Azetbur, he confided in me that he was happy that peace had finally come between our peoples." He gazed on Worf's uniform. "So how did you come to serve in the Federation, Commander?"

"Sadly, Master Mogh's pro-concilliation stance cost him his life on that very world where you and your gallant shipmates finally won the peace between your noble United Federation and the heirs of the truly unforgettable Emperor Kahless," Hiromi declared as she held a barely conscious Mizuho in her arms while Minami Kaori was moving to help her beloved friend get dressed. "Master Worf and his loyal governess, Lady Kahlest, were two survivors known to us in our universe. Were their more, good sir?"

"There were a few others, Director," Worf said.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kirk stated, and then he braced himself. "And forgive me for not asking this right away." He gazed on Picard as he straightened himself to attention. "Permission to come aboard, Captain Picard?"

"Permission granted, Captain Kirk," the current captain of the _Enterprise_ said.

People on the bridge grinned save for Worf, who nodded in approval. "Captain, we are now approximately twenty-six minutes from system-fall at Amargosa," Data then stated. "As the safety of Guinan's fellow refugees is guaranteed by the Nexus, I would recommend that we proceed immediately to Veridian III to ensure Doctor Soran cannot use whatever devices he might have there to threaten the inhabitants of Veridian IV."

Picard grimaced. "Indeed. How fast can we get there?"

"Six hours at maximum warp," Data replied. "I must also note that _Haida_'s maximum speed is much faster; she can be there in under two hours."

"Really?" the captain mused, and then he perked. "Oh, Mister Worf."

"Sir?"

"Signal _Haida_ and inform Lieutenant Anderson that Director Moroboshi and the others have returned safely from the Nexus, bringing with them Miss Inada, Miss Etō and Miss Minami as well." Picard then stopped before he glanced at Kirk for a moment, and then he sighed. "May I speak to you privately in my ready room, Captain?"

"Of course," Kirk stated . . .

* * *

**Ship's Operational Log, Monday 27 December 2010, ship's time 1411 hours EST;**  
**Lieutenant (Navy) Michelle Anderson reporting in the absence of the Commanding Officer,**

_The mission to the Nexus to permit the recovery of Captain James T. Kirk, the soul-fragments of both Miss Guinan and Doctor Tolian Soran of the planet El-Auria, and the three missing Terran-turned-Avalonians – ironically themselves having been born in a dimension different than ours; their souls having been brought by unknown means to the bioroid factory prior to its liberation – teleported into the Nexus from our universe is complete. By order of U.N.E.D.F. Director Moroboshi Hiromi and with the approval of the officers and senior non-commissioned officers aboard _Haida_ at this time, the ship has proceeded ahead of _Enterprise_ to the Veridian system, 133 light-years away from the Amargosa system, in hopes of using our passive systems to detect a cloaked Klingon D12-class Bird of Prey corvette under the command of the daughters of the late Councillor Duras of Qo'noS, Lursa and B'Etor. If the events of _Generations_ are playing out in that regard, the ship will soon deliver Doctor Soran to Veridian III where he will make his attempt to enter the Nexus after launching a trilithium-powered sun-killer bomb into the system's home star._

_Estimated time of arrival of the Nexus in the Veridian system – its subtle diversion thanks to the destruction of Amargosa having been confirmed by _Enterprise_ – is currently 27 hours and 16 minutes away.__ As the ship's passive systems are capable of registering the presence of a cloaked ship – and given that the D12-class would be even less of a potential threat to _Haida_ as she could be to _Enterprise_ (not to mention Lursa and B'Etor not having the tactical advantage of using the latter ship's own chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, to virtually __**spy**__ on _Enterprise_'s inner workings with a hidden link to his own VISOR system) – we will make landfall over Veridian III in 54 minutes to do a detailed scan of the planet's surface in hope of locating Soran's launch facility so it could be taken out in case any appeals to reason ultimately fail. And given that _Haida_'s Navy personnel – especially her sonar operators – have experience and training in hunting submarines underwater, hunting a cloaked scoutship in deep space shouldn't be too different. Fortunately for us, those of _Enterprise_'s ship's company aboard _Haida_ at this time – including Lieutenant Reg Barclay and Marine Captain T'Thelaih Mason – have gladly pitched in to help us better understand what tracking a cloaked ship in space would be like, training and experience we would need in potential dealings in the future with the Ipraedies Empire, who also possess cloaked warships._

_Much to the surprise – and for the hard-core Trekkers aboard__, delight – of everyone aboard _Haida_, Captain Kirk has (on being confirmed as alive by _Enterprise_ Chief Medical Officer Commander Beverly Crusher) allowed his Starfleet commission to be reactivated. At the request of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, he has come aboard _Haida_ to advise this reporting officer and the others on space combat tactics._

* * *

_Haida_, Operations Room, an hour later . . .

"We've settled into orbit over Veridian III, Lieutenant," Yoshino Tomomi called over from her monitor station. "Commencing full environmental scans. Geomatics Team is already at work preparing a full surface survey. Sergeant Wiggins reports that the best estimate time of first draft to be passed on to Ops is thirty-six minutes."

"Thank you, Miss Yoshino," Michelle Anderson said as she gazed on the three-dimensional image of the planet under _Haida_'s keel, that now hovering over the main operations room plotting table. "So where exactly did Soran put his launcher, Doug?"

"Well, the scene in the movie was filmed in the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, not too far away from Las Vegas, Michelle," Douglas Tremblay stated. "If you watched the scene, you could actually see Lake Mead off in the background. Now, I have to state, it's kind of weird actually having our search for the thing depend on _that_! But since things seem to be working out in that regard, all we have to do is look for that type of terrain on the planet and concentrate all our scanners there."

"Fortunately, since we did get scans of the trilithium residue in the ejected matter from the Amargosa star, we could use that and the ship's passive scanners to sniff out any trace of trilithium on the surface," one of the personnel from _Enterprise_ who had come to help the Canadians, Lieutenant Judy-Anne Ballard, stated. Even if she normally ran the ship's primary school, she was a xeno-chemist by training. Over the last day or so, she had found studying the dynamics of elements like trilithium and mesonium to be quite fascinating; she was already preparing an in-depth impact analysis on the latter material for review by Starfleet Command. "Given how sharp this ship's sensors are, we should get a good whiff of it even if it is currently inert at this time."

"How would you classify the radioactivity level, Lieutenant?"

Ballard smiled. "It's harmless, Captain Kirk. It would be rated back in your time as a Class Two element." To Anderson. "About the same output as one of those communications devices I've seen many of your crew possess, ma'am."

"Too low of an output for our sensors?" the navigator officer and acting commanding officer of _Haida_ then asked the woman standing next to her.

"Not low enough, Lieutenant Anderson," Minegishi Ruriko, one of the other would-be sonar operators now aboard the Canadian starship, stated with a shake of her head. "If the missile is already loaded with the material, we'll find it."

"Get on it."

"Aye-aye, ma'am."

With that, the bespectacled woman walked out of the room. Watching her go, Kirk tried not to shake his head at the idea of a ship like this – having been dragged into his universe in such a woeful state of manning – now being forced to face a ship full of Klingons who would be more than happy to spill human blood if they got the chance; he had been briefed by Worf about the Duras sisters and their attempt at provoking a civil war within the Klingon Empire not more than four years before. _I'm really on a ship full of honest-to-goodness _space cadets_! Their training is either totally non-existent or had been focused too long in the wrong direction, but . . .!_

"Be calm, Jim. Sometimes, there is advantage in youth and inexperience."

He blinked, and then nodded at Hiromi, who was seated in her usual place at the aft end of the table (Michelle Anderson was standing beside her as she refused to sit in Captain Brian Gamblin's chair at the forward end of the room). "You'll have both surprise and confusion on your side. But that won't last long," he warned.

"Aye, you're right," the reborn emperor stated. "Still, I think I know a way to appeal to the good doctor's sensibilities – and his curiosity – to make him fully re-consider launching that missile into an innocent sun." She then glanced in amusement at Douglas Tremblay. "How did that quote go again, Captain?"

"'Now, you'll have to excuse me, Captain,'" Tremblay quoted from _Generations_. "'I have an appointment with Eternity . . . and I don't want to be late.'"

A nod. "We shall ensure he will actually be _early_."

"Do you think he'll bite at the bait?" Kirk asked.

Hiromi reached into her jean jacket to pull out the meson crystal Koeru Kumomi had used to obtain the El-Aurian scientist's soul-fragment. "He may not be a full-fledged telepath like your old first officer is, but he is strong enough to sense this. He will know right away what it is . . . and thus, where I had recently visited." Kirk had actually been quite impressed to see how easily the people on _Haida_ had accepted Hiromi's decision to go down to Soran's work site alone to confront the scientist once said site was found and the rogue Bird of Prey had dropped him off; if she had been in Jean-Luc Picard's shoes, William Riker would be cursing the blue streak over it. "That alone will make him realise that I have another way of getting into the Nexus. And given that we could offer help to the Federation in tracking down the good doctor within the Nexus should he misbehave so badly, that might make him see reason."

"Interesting gambit," he noted.

"And one worth taking. Besides, even if he did perform a nasty disruption on local star patterns by causing one to implode on itself, he has not caused anyone real harm." She sat back in her chair. "And it is simple to grant him his wish, should he still desire to go to the Nexus after we repair his soul. So why not help him?" She gazed on him. "You, after all, felt regret about what happened to Captain Garth. Even if you were forced to fight him when he had seized control of the Elba II asylum."

A nod. "I did."

"Ops, Remote Sensory."

Anderson tapped a control. "Ops, go."

"Lieutenant, we may have something."

"Report?"

"Lateral Remote Unit Sixteen just picked up a disturbance in the photon quantum spectrum," Master Seaman Peter Tynes called up from the remote sensor monitor room.

"Pipe it up to the main table."

"Aye-aye, ma'am."

Everyone watched as the image of Veridian III vanished, replaced by a multi-dimensional image of what appeared to be something cloaked by a blanket wrapped around it quite closely. "Is that a Klingon ship?" Kirk asked.

Tremblay grimaced. "No, Captain. That's a D'deridex-class battlecruiser," he reported as he gazed knowingly at the veteran Federation captain. "She's Romulan."

"Lieutenant Ballard, are we in Federation space?" Anderson asked.

"No, ma'am," Ballard replied. "That was about forty-five light years past our stern when we made system-fall and de-warped. Space around Veridian is unclaimed."

A sigh. "Joy . . .!"

_**To be continued . . .**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES:  
**

1) **Kamon Yonemi** was the field director of the _Program_ episode involving the Shiroiwa Junior High School group in the _Battle Royale_ manga. He was killed in the manga chapter "Counterattack" (manga episode #118) by **Kawada Shōgo** thanks to a "pencil tracheotomy" when **Nanahara Shūya** and **Nakagawa Noriko** boarded the patrol boat that Shōgo was on when he was being taken away from Oki-shima after "winning" the episode.

2) The two "players" from _Battle Royale_ mentioned at the start of this part, **Fujiyoshi Fumiyo** and **Kuninobu Yoshitoki**, were both killed by Kamon Yonemi at the "homeroom class" depicted in the manga chapters "Best Friend," "Mimura Shinji" and "The Oath" (manga episodes #2-4).

3) The events surrounding the attempted bombing of the school on Oki-shima by **Mimura Shinji** and **Setō Yutaka** occurred in the _BR_ manga episodes "Demolition," "Team," "Versus," "Explosion," and "Trajectory" (manga episodes #51-55).

4) Concerning the fates of the "Daydreamers" in _Battle Royale_: **Inada Mizuho** was confronted by **Kiriyama Kazuo** in the manga chapter "Faith" (manga episode #79); **Minami Kaori** was shot down by Kawada Shōgo to save Nanahara Shūya's life in the manga chapter "Persuasion" (manga episode #30); and **Etō Megumi** was killed by **Sōma Mitsuko** in the manga chapter named after the latter character (manga episode #8).

5) The **Traveller** appeared three times in _The Next Generation_: The first-season episode "Where No One Has Gone Before," the fourth-season episode "Remember Me" and the seventh-season episode "Journey's End" (this is where he disguised himself as **Lakanta**). It was in "Journey's End" that the other Terran natives of the planet **Dorvan V** were introduced.

6) The concept of the **Pool of Prophecy** used by the Traveller (and Wesley) was introduced in the novel _A Time to Be Born_ (ISBN 0-743-46765-5, released in 2004) by John Vornholt.

7) The **Obsidian Order**, the secret police and primary intelligence agency of the Cardassian Union, was first introduced in the _Deep Space Nine_ second-season episode "The Wire." Their counterparts in the Federation, **Section 31**, was first mentioned in the _DS9_ sixth-season episode "Inquisition."

8) The **Innu** were one of the first native societies in modern-day Canada encountered by European explorers; for the longest time, they were often referred to by the French term "**Montagnais**" (meaning "mountain people"). Their traditional range extends from the area north of Québec City all the way to the Atlantic coast of Labrador.

9) The Cardassian term "**archon**" is normally applied to a high magistrate or judge (as noted in the _DS9_ second-season episode "Tribunal").

10) **Etana Jol** appeared in the _TNG_ fifth-season episode "The Game." Worf's grandfather – also named **Worf** (and played by Michael Dorn) – appeared in _Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country_; he was Jim Kirk's and Leonard McCoy's defence attorney at their trial in the wake of the murder of Chancellor Gorkon. **Kahlest** appeared in the _TNG_ third-season episode "Sins of the Father." And **Judy-Anne Ballard** appeared in the _TNG_ third-season episode "The Offspring;" her given names are derived from the name of the actress who portrayed her, Judyann Elder.

11) **Minegishi Ruriko** is a character from _Grand Prix_.


	8. The Daughter of Yesterday

Now approaching Veridian III . . .

"What is it?"

"I would almost swear . . .!"

Scowling at the bulky wedge-shaped starship easily the same size as her own _N'ventnar_ – much that she had once hated the older-model D'deridex-class warship given that she hadn't received any of the more recent upgrades given to newer ships commanded by more politically well-connected peers, the old warbird had received some interesting under-the-table modifications thanks the one non-Romulan standing on the pilotage – Sela Yar could only feel a growing frustration at this unexpected wrinkle in her plan to continue to disrupt and destabilise the Klingon Empire. "What?"

The still-beautiful Natasha Yar – who actually didn't look much different than she had appeared to Sela's late father, Volskiar N'vian, for the first time after the destruction of the U.S.S. _Enterprise_-C over Narendra III years ago – could only breathe out. "She could be one of ours in fact," she stated as she gazed on her beloved daughter, a child she had never stopped loving even if they had been forcibly separated from each other for twenty-one years. "But what would it be doing all the way out here?"

"Some sort of accident?" the ship's pilot, Tal'Shan B'Krensalh, then proposed.

"Or a rogue?" the weapons officer, K'Neth Wyjthok, offered.

"Possibly," the elder Yar then stated. "Can we get a close-up?"

"Maximum magnification, Captain," the sub-centurion at the sensory station said.

The image on _N'ventnar_'s main view screen then blew up to reveal a visibly armed – and quite heavily-armed ship at that, Sela and her mother quickly realised – ship of about the same physical length as a D'deridex-class warbird, though she was a compact vessel with a single cigar-shaped hull, bulges on the sides containing landing and launch bays, plus paired upper- and lower-superstructures ending in small groves of sensor vanes. Two giant engine exhausts – the ship had a form of matter/anti-matter warp drive, but the design physics were quite different than what the Federation made use of – took up the whole aft end of the strange vessel with four smaller sub-luminal impulse drive exhausts sticking out of the aft end of the lower superstructure. The ship was painted a rather gaudy light grey shade from stem to stern, save for a black number – in Earth Arabic script, Sela noted – under what appeared to be the main bridge structure and a red-and-white flag aft of amidships covering the whole side of the hull. On seeing that, Natasha gaped. "That's not possible!" she declared.

"You recognise that ship, Mother?" Sela asked.

"The flag," the older woman stated. "It's the flag of Canada."

The people on _N'ventnar_'s bridge blinked. "Forgive me, Captain, but wasn't Canada one of the surface sectors on Earth before planetary political unification?" K'Neth asked.

"Yes," Natasha said. "Actually, thanks to our own predecessors, it was the many 'victims' from the Third World War from Canada who were allowed to settle Tokzheto over three centuries ago, just as the Icarians were allowed to settle their own world."

"Your unknown 'elder sisters,'" Sela sarcastically noted.

A nod. "The same."

Silence fell on the warbird's bridge as the crew patiently awaited their commander's next decision. Many of them had – in the three weeks Captain Natasha Yar of the Royal Tokzhetoan Navy, the former consort to the now-disgraced General Volskiar N'vian of the Imperial Praetorian Guard (and the last known survivor of an _alternate timeline_ of all things!) had been with them – come to feel the horrible pain their beloved "half-breed" leader experienced in the year since she literally had her whole world turned inside-out thanks to revelations concerning Volskiar's actions concerning his consort's former shipmates from the _Enterprise_-C. When a promise vowed on the memories of the general's ancestors – an oath made in the true traditions of the most sacred laws of _mnhei'sahe_, the oldest code of honour and ethics known to Romulans, descent from the most stringent beliefs pre-Reformation Vulcans held sacred – to allow Richard Castillo and his friends had been cast aside, seeing them dead within three years of their capture within the mines of Remus. When that incident – revealed to Sela's mother by one of the most feared living beings in the Star Empire, Tal Shiar High Councillor Heva t'Jarok – made Natasha break her vow to her "husband" to remain loyal as long as her shipmates remained safe. How her "death" – and a heartbreaking separation from a child she loved more than her own life – had been effortlessly arranged with the help of the Tal Shiar and their Tokzhetoan counterparts, the Special Operations Executive of the Defence Ministry of the Interplanetary Confederation of Planets (the alliance of worlds settled over the previous two millennia by humans from Earth by an offshoot race of the mysterious Preservers).

In becoming that, Natasha Yar had been asked to give up something almost as precious as her own beloved baby girl: her very humanity.

She was one of several hundred known human-form Questors living on Tokzheto.

"Commander, I may have an explanation."

Sela turned. "Report, High Centurion."

An elderly Romulan man looked up from the science station console. Taf s'Mirek was the only son of the younger sister of the legendary Commander-General Liviana Charvanek herself; he had been a physical training instructor at the Imperial Academy when a young Sela N'vian – she had changed her family name to match her mother's in the wake of her father's death the previous year – had undergone basic military education there. Taf – named in tribute to Liviana's disgraced cousin, Tafv tr'Rllaillieu – had seen something special in the "half-breed" with the hair the shade of Earth's own home sun: A never-say-die attitude that tugged at his heart and made him take the young officer candidate under his own wing. In the Royal Navy of Tokzheto, Taf would be popularly known as Sela's "space daddy;" she would _**never**_ command a warship in the Imperial Star Navy without him as her high centurion, the equal of the Tokzhetoan Navy "coxswain" or the Federation Starfleet "command master chief petty officer." "There is a considerable difference of nucleii quantum vibration frequency from the alien craft in comparison to surrounding space, Commander," he said with his normal content smile. "I believe our stranger is not from this reality."

"An alternate timeline?" K'Neth asked. "Like where the captain hails?"

"No, Sub-Commander," Taf stated. "An alternate _**universe**_."

Silence.

"So what are they doing here then?" Tal'Shan asked.

Sela sighed. "Let's find out. Pilot, stand by to de-cloak."

"Yes, Commander."

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"We've got the bogey on all the portside remote units now, Lieutenant," Master Seaman Tynes reported from the Remote Sensor Monitor Room. "Range 26,000 kilometres off the port beam, approaching at 500 clicks per second. I . . . wait!"

"What?" Michelle Anderson said.

"Slight change in the photon fields around her, Lieutenant."

"She's de-cloaking," Jim Kirk warned.

"Shields up!" Yoshino Tomomi barked out.

"Shields up!" the senior naval weapons technician in the operations room, Petty Officer 2nd Class John Hopkins, called back as he clicked the master control that would immediately surround _Haida_ with overlapping multiple layers of defensive energy.

"Ops, Port Lookout!"

"Go!" Anderson called out.

"Romulan warbird de-cloaking, bearing red 86 mark 94!" one of the naval communicators manning the portside visual cameras, Uchiumi Kotono, called out.

"Recommend we arm main guns, Lieutenant!" Hopkins then said.

"Negative."

Everyone stared at her. "Ma'am, say again?" Hopkins nearly croaked.

"I said BELAY that, PO!" the navigator officer snapped, which made him wince. "I'm not interested in starting a fight that could spill back into our universe when we least want or need it!" As the chastised petty officer nodded, Anderson then sighed. "'Sides, there's something weird going on there," she muttered, her eyes narrow.

"I sense it as well," Hiromi stated.

"Director, it's your first time encountering Romulans," Judy-Anne Ballard reminded them.

"No, it is not the good citizens of that world that interest us, Lieutenant," the reborn emperor stated. "In many ways, Romulans feel the very same to an Avalonian as a Vulcan would, albeit with a lot less hard control over their emotions than their distant kinsmen. But there's someone – or something – else aboard."

"Aren't the Romulans supposed to be homogenous?" Douglas Tremblay then asked. "Unless they could be Remans! But would they serve on a line ship?"

"I think it's something else, Mister Tremblay."

Eyes locked on Kirk. "Captain?" Ballard asked.

The veteran explorer smiled as he turned to one of the prospective naval combat information operators in the room, Arai Mamiko. "Seaman Arai, can you do a detailed life scan of the Romulan vessel?" he asked the younger woman. "And look for a specific trisilicon compound within the bodies of the people there while you're doing that?"

The crimson-haired, green-eyed woman gazed at him for a moment, and then she smiled before turning back to her monitor screen. "Would it be similar to _this_ particular synthetic DNA formation, Captain Kirk?" she asked as she tapped her controls to access _Haida_'s large database of known sentient beings to bring up an image.

Ballard walked around the central plotting table to stand beside Kirk as he gazed on the complex molecule there. "Oh, my God . . .!" he then breathed out. "Don't tell me you have Questors in your universe as well?" he then asked.

"And what are Questors, Jim?" Hiromi asked, her eyebrow arching in amusement.

"A race of synthetic sentients who could – in theory – take the form of any of the known sentient hominoid races in the galaxy," Kirk explained. "This synthetic DNA pattern Seaman Arai is showing here is quite similar to what I've seen of Questor DNA." He then gazed on Ballard, inwardly thanking the Fates that she was the only _Enterprise_ officer currently in the operations room. "And this – unless things have changed a lot in the last eighty years – is considered a Chi-level security matter, Lieutenant. You cannot speak of this to anyone below Captain Picard. Understood?"

Ballard paled. Security classifications – especially when one hit the "most secret" stage of the game – was broken down into special compartmented levels that were designated by the old Greek alphabet. Alpha-level was the basic most secret level of classification and Omega-level as the highest and most well-kept security level. Chi-level was two steps down from Omega-level, which was something Judy-Anne Ballard would probably never be cleared for until she became the commanding officer of her own science vessel many years in the future. "Aye-aye, Captain," she stated, nodding.

"Commencing scan of synthetic DNA presence on approaching vessel, Captain," Mamiko then stated as she tapped controls. A moment later, she then turned to gaze at him. "I've identified one such sentient aboard the Romulan vessel." To Hiromi. "She's actually quite similar to the independent bounty hunter Shogai Dakejinzō from our own universe, Onē-sama, though this one is patterned after a Terran-type humanoid."

The others on the bridge nodded . . .

* * *

_N'ventnar_ . . .

"Her shields came up BEFORE we de-cloaked?"

Taf grimly nodded. "Yes, Commander. At least ten seconds before we would have become visible to them either by physical sight or by standard sensors."

"She has passive scanners systems on her."

Eyes locked on Natasha Yar. Sela blinked as she considered that, and then she sat back in her chair. "Wonderful! Our science people have been turning themselves inside-out trying to get around Confederation passive sensors; they're still stymied by the basic laws of energy physics when it comes to how the cloak deploys," the young commander stated. "K'Neth, is she locking weapons on us?" she then asked.

He scanned his readout before shaking his head. "Negative, Commander. Her shields are up – and she is performing what appears to be a standard life scan of the _N'ventnar_ – but the main projectile turrets remain locked in place and the missile tubes we can detect on her are totally empty of weapons of any sort."

Sela hummed. "So she's wary . . . but not belligerent."

"Should we attempt communication, Commander?" Tal'Shan asked.

The young commander considered that, and then she gazed on her mother. Natasha sensed the look, and then she sighed. "If this ship hails from a universe where the nations of Earth somehow gained warp capability before political unification – and given the size and firepower of this ship – I think things will be peaceful."

"What is your proof, Captain?" Taf asked.

She smiled. "Elder Brother . . . " – Natasha ignored the high centurion's flustered look and the smirks crossing the face of many of the bridge crew on her addressing Taf by such a familial title – " . . . the Canadians were a peaceful people at heart. They had to be, given their close proximity to the United States of America – Earth's largest and most powerful nation at the time of the Migration to Tokzheto – throughout their existence as an independent country. But when they were forced to go to war, they fought with great ferocity, especially when backed into a corner."

The others on the bridge nodded. "Open a channel," Sela then ordered.

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Ops, Radio One."

Anderson pressed a control on the dataPADD in front of her. "Ops."

"Lieutenant, we're being hailed by the approaching Romulan. She identifies herself as the Imperial Romulan Warbird _N'ventnar_; commanding officer is a Commander Sela Yar," the yeoman of signals, Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathan Cotter, called up. "She declares her intentions peaceful and states she's aware we're not local."

"Be careful in trusting them," Kirk warned.

Anderson nodded. "Chief, bring it up here," Hiromi then said.

"Aye-aye, Director."

A second later, the main view screen in the operations room flicked on, revealing a well-lit pilotage structure with people – all of them bearing the same fierce and pointed facial and ear structures of the Vulcans – in silver-grey-and-black duty uniforms standing at various stations save for one, who relaxed in her own command chair. Noting the well-styled sunflower-blonde hair, Douglas Tremblay could only frown; he had known who was in command of the _N'ventnar_ the instant CPO2 Cotter had piped up the name and had immediately realised with _this_ particular warbird commander, trouble would always follow. "Lady Commander Yar," Hiromi then stated as she relaxed in her chair. "Welcome to our temporarily claimed corner of the Multiverse."

Sela perked, and then she blinked as she peered intently at the reborn emperor for a moment, surprised to find herself speaking to a Terran _teenager_ in _civilian_ clothing in lieu of a properly-uniformed military officer. "I am Commander Sela Yar of the Romulan warbird _N'ventnar_," she affirmed. "Your signalman identified your ship as Her Majesty's Canadian Starship _Haida_. A most honourable and famous name in Terran naval warfare history, though I find it surprising that a _nation_ on Earth was able to acquire its own warship without it falling under some sort of worldwide control."

"As a matter of fact, good lady, this ship is part of – as it is addressed in my own universe – the United Nations Earth Defence Force, though she is directly administered by the government of the noble Dominion of Canada. I'm the Director of the Force." A bow of her head. "Moroboshi Hiromi at your service."

Sela hummed. "You look a little young to hold such a high position."

"Lady Sela, you yourself are twenty-six Terran years old. I would believe to assume command of a front-like ship like your own noble _N'ventnar_, one would have been required to gain much more field experience at lower levels of rank," Hiromi said as she gave the commander a knowing smile. "But if you still doubt such things, I will be willing to meet with you directly to offer proof via a mind-meld."

Silence.

"You're telepathic?" the Romulan commander demanded.

"Aye. Of the very same nature as your own distant kinsmen on Vulcan." Hiromi then indicated Judy-Anne Ballard. "As you'll note by the presence of the good Lady Lieutenant Ballard here, we've already met up with the noble crew of the Federation starship _Enterprise_ quite recently; they actually chanced upon us not so far from Starbase 105 when we first phased into this dimension. And because of a rather curious form of information transmission through the veil between our dimensions, we know quite a bit about events in this universe, including the rather tragic war between the Earth of this dimension and your own noble Star Empire many decades ago. Not to mention the fact that you possess Terran genes in your own blood through your late mother, an alternate timeline version of the late Lieutenant Natasha Yar, _Enterprise_'s first Security Officer. If you are willing, I will be glad to show you how."

More silence.

"I would be interested," Sela said, though Hiromi was quick to detect the slight catch in her voice when she stated those words.

A nod. "Fair enough." Hiromi then tapped a control. "Radio One, Director."

"Radio One. Go ahead, ma'am."

"Access the ship's entertainment library. Specifically, episodes of _Star Trek - The Next Generation_. Specific episodes: 'Yesterday's _Enterprise_,' 'The Mind's Eye,' 'Redemption,' 'Redemption II,' 'Unification I' and 'Unification II.' Bundle it together in a non-classified compression bubble and transmit to the _N'ventnar_."

"Aye-aye, ma'am!"

Hiromi then gazed at Sela's image. "Lady Sela, please understand that while I know you are steadfastly loyal to your father's people and the Star Empire they spent years creating, I will not allow myself or this ship to be used as a flash-point in any of your interesting little games concerning the Federation or the Klingon Empire. I can guess – having recently seen the local star charts – that your noble Praetor and the great Senate of your people grossly fear being surrounded on almost all sides by potential enemies, thus allowing the mistrust you have for those not of your kind to grow to a state of near-paranoia. If it were within my power, I would do anything I could to erase that paranoia from your kind; a race descent from brave settlers who risked much in a trip of fifty light-years in primitive star craft two millennia ago deserves no less." As Sela found herself gaping at the reborn emperor, Hiromi stated, "You take the time to look over what we're transmitting to you now. When you feel it right, communicate with us. Oh, be warned that _Enterprise_ will be within the system in the next three hours. I'm sure the good Captain Picard will be more than pleased to see you again, Lady Sela. Until later." With that, she tapped a control to terminate the connection before the Romulan commander could get in a word otherwise.

Silence fell over the operations room, and then Jim Kirk laughed. "You totally knocked her right off-kilter by doing that, Hiromi," he noted.

"It was necessary," she confessed. "She's a devious little plotter, this one. Always willing to play all sorts of games to press her own goals. It wouldn't surprise me - given her past association with Lursa and B'Etor - that she was the one behind the attack on the Amargosa station when Doctor Soran was there." She then relaxed in her chair as she gazed on the image of the _N'ventnar_ hovering close to _Haida_'s port side. "So tell me, Lady Sela . . . what is your little game _this_ time?" she asked.

* * *

**Captain's Log, Stardate 48630.5,**

_The _Enterprise_ has arrived over Veridian III. As planned, _Haida_ made use of her faster speed to arrive in the system much sooner. Fortunately, Lieutenant Anderson and her sonar operators were quick to make use of the Canadian starship's passive sensor gear to pick up a cloaked vessel in the system within minutes of her arrival. However, much to my personal dismay, the vessel was not a Klingon Bird of Prey._

_What is worse, the new arrival is commanded by an old "friend" who has more than enough reasons not to like either the _Enterprise_ or people such as myself._

* * *

_Enterprise_, the captain's ready room . . .

"**_Sela_** is aboard that ship?"

"She's her commander," Hiromi confirmed.

Hearing that, Jean-Luc Picard tried not to growl when it came to _this_ delightful revelation. Remembering how Sela had been a part of the entrapment scheme to have Ambassador Spock captured on Romulus and the underground movement fighting for eventual reunification of their people with their cousins on Vulcan exposed and destroyed – and then remembering Sela's involvement in the recent Klingon civil war provoked by Duras' sisters – he could only shake her head. This whole situation concerning Tolian Soran and the Nexus was already bad enough with the added presence of Lursa and B'Etor in the situation. Add the daughter of an alternate timeline's Natasha Yar atop that . . .?

"Has she communicated anything to you since you sent those television episodes over to her ship?" Deanna Troi then asked. Along with the counsellor, William Riker, Worf and Jim Kirk were in the captain's ready room with Picard.

"No, she did not. It actually surprised me that they did nothing more than exchange pleasantries with you when you made system-fall," the reborn emperor stated.

"What do you sense, Deanna?" Picard asked.

A shake of the head. "The normal wariness expected from a crew of Romulans in unclaimed space many light-years beyond their borders. Genuine curiosity towards _Haida_ and her presence here. And something incredibly familiar to me."

"What?" Riker asked.

A sigh. "I felt Tasha close by, Will."

"That would be impossible," Picard stated. "Our Tasha died seven years ago. And the alternate timeline version of Tasha – Sela's mother – was executed by her father's people twenty-two years ago; _**if**_ she ever existed in the first place! How could Tasha still be alive?"

"It's possible. After all, aren't _I_ supposed to be dead, Jean-Luc?"

Eyes locked on Kirk, and then Picard grinned. "Good point, Jim." During their private meeting after returning from the Nexus, the two captains had got off quite well, almost thinking of the other man as a long-lost friend.

"And there is one other thing," Hiromi stated. "Our scanners picked up one of these 'Questors' who appear to be this universe's version of a very good friend of my family's, the Lady Warrior Shogai Dakejinzō of the planet Fukunokami, an independent bounty-hunter. The one on Lady Sela's ship is – as Jim told me – a 'human-form Questor.'" A shrug. "Perhaps this could be the Lady Natasha, alive and well."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"_Mon Dieu_ . . .!"

Picard squeezed his eyes closed as he slumped on the chair. "Captain, why is it all information concerning the Questors is kept so secret?" Troi then wondered. "Even if they are a race of inducted sentients, the Federation has encountered such beings before. When Captain Kirk commanded the _Enterprise_, he encountered the androids of Mudd's World and followed up on the discovery of the androids on Exo III made by Doctor Roger Korby. Atop that, there were the experiments done by Mister Flint on Holberg 917G – the Rayna series of gynoids – before his death in 2278. Surely, a race like the Questors wouldn't be seen as truly any different than any other android species."

"In that, you are right, Counsellor. Still, can you recall what happened to Ira Graves when he was dying and we were sent to assist him?" Picard asked.

The counsellor blinked, and then her dark eyes widened. "They're _immortal_?"

"In every sense of the term, yes," the captain stated. "They can recover from wounds that would kill any other living being. Even disintegration from a full-power phaser blast would not ultimately kill them at the end. And they are – as all of them were once normal organic sentient beings – literally frozen in time. Ageless. Eternally beautiful; Questors are all female. Thus, they are forced to watch their friends grow old and die while they live on. And on. And on. And what is worse – since they _are_ all female with no known males of their species having ever been encountered before – they cannot bear offspring of their own. And because they are synthetic lifeforms, they cannot mate with fully-organic males." As Troi winced, he then sighed. "Many would desire immortality regardless of the several pitfalls becoming a Questor would unleash on a person, so it was decided many years ago to keep their existence as much of a secret as possible. I would assume those Questors who live beyond Federation space live under similar circumstances." Picard then gazed at Kirk, who was nodding in understanding. "They police themselves as well, making sure that those who would get a little too curious are made to understand why it is better to keep information on such a race hidden from outside society." He tapped his console to bring up an image of his first security chief. "And if Tasha is now one of them . . . " A shake of the head. "I have felt the pain of my nephew dying before his time. Director Moroboshi, in her first life, lived through the premature deaths of ten of her thirteen children. Could you imagine what Tasha is thinking right now, Deanna? Knowing deep in her heart that a child she gave birth to and raised for the first few years of her life . . . will one day die while she herself will remain frozen in time? And forced to watch it happen?"

The other officers presence all bowed their heads. "Has there been any work towards assisting the Questors to this end?" Worf then asked, inwardly horrified that his former shipmate – even if this one was an alternate timeline version of her – was now condemned to a fate worse than death in the eyes of any self-respecting Klingon.

"There has, but there hasn't been much success in that regard," Picard stated. "Given the necessary security factors involved in this, any such research is quite slow in producing results. Furthermore, since the number of Questors can only be counted in the thousands – at least in Federation space – the demographic factors end up provoking additional slowdowns in research. Ironically, the Mudd's World androids – once they were upgraded to experience their own emotions by a human-form Questor named Lauren Korby about twenty years ago – have provided a lot of assistance towards helping the Questors understand themselves; it appears they also exist in the Andromeda Galaxy. Or at least they did up to the point where the android colony on Mudd's World lost contact with their homeworld."

"'Lauren Korby?'" Kirk asked.

Picard smiled. "She was actually formed from the preserved memories of Doctor Roger Korby that was stored in the production computers on Exo III by Master Ruk, then allowed to forge her own body from cell samples provided by your old chief nurse, Doctor Christine Chapel, sometime in the 2270s, just after the V'Ger affair. I understand Doctor Korby and Doctor Chapel once planned to get married. Miss Korby, no doubt, became a living symbol of what might have been for them hadn't the exploration of Exo III gone so wrong for him." He then gazed on the other veteran explorer. "It wouldn't surprise me that you don't know personally of Miss Korby, Jim. Things concerning the Questors – at least to those cleared to know such things in the long run – are much less compartmented these days." A sigh. "So if Tasha is aboard the _N'ventnar_ at this time, the question I have is this: What's she doing there?"

"Could she be working for the Romulans?" Riker wondered.

Eyes locked on Troi. "I couldn't sense anything about that."

"I doubt she would support anything that would threaten the Federation."

People gazed on Worf. "Can you substantiate such a claim?" Hiromi asked.

"I had Commander Sela researched with assistance from my brother Kurn after the captain told me about her, Director," the Klingon stated. "Her father was General Volskiar N'vian, a highly-ranked and quite respected officer in the Praetorian Guard at the time the _Enterprise_-C was lost over Narendra III. Very recently, he fell out of favour and was eliminated from his position, as were many of his allies in the Senate, the Praetorian Guard and even the Tal Shiar itself." As the others all stared wide-eyed at him, Worf then added, "It surprised me that Sela was spared. She was reported to be quite close to her father." He then stopped as something then came to him, and then he stated, "Unless . . . the commander supported or instigated his downfall."

"To betray one's family is considered one of the most heinous of crimes among the Romulans regardless if they adhere to the old principles of _mnhei'sahe_ or not," Picard stated. "Still, she did greet us as 'Sela Yar' when she hailed us . . . "

"Perhaps something happened which forced Sela to re-evaluate her opinions of Tasha," Troi then proposed. "While Romulans prefer to use their given names over their house names or any other names when speaking to strangers or behaving formally, using her mother's name would be seen as quite unusual for her people, though acknowledging descent from one's mother is quite acceptable among their people."

"Only way we could find out more is to ask Tasha or Sela directly," Riker said.

"Agreed," Picard stated before tapping his terminal controls to open a link to the bridge. "Picard to Bridge. Data, open a channel to the _N'ventnar_."

"Channel open, Captain," the android called back.

"Romulan warbird _N'ventnar_, this is the Federation starship _Enterprise_. Please acknowledge," Picard then called out, and then he smiled as a woman's image appeared on his terminal monitor. "Ah, Sub-Commander Tal'Shan. Is Commander Sela about?"

"The commander is currently reviewing that most interesting communications packet our visitors from another dimension sent us prior to your arrival, Captain Picard," Tal'Shan stated. "I must confess, from what I saw of it, the idea of beings from another dimension learning – even if they believe it a form of fiction – of some of our more intricate workings and operations is quite a disturbing thing to me."

"In a way, it is quite disturbing to ourselves, but I believe there's no threat to any of us given the difficulty in transiting from one dimension to another. Not to mention the fact that unless quite extraordinary measures are taken, one simply cannot remain in an alternate dimension for more than one solar year according to the length of time one's birth world orbits its primary," Picard stated. "They came here by accident, Sub-Commander. And they wish neither the Federation nor the Star Empire any harm by their presence. Director Moroboshi did communicate that to you, did she not?"

"She did," the young Romulan woman – who was quite attractive in her own way, Picard mused – stated. "Is Director Moroboshi with you at this time, Captain? We have noticed that _Haida_ seems to be preparing herself for battle, even if the number of people we detect on that ship seems somewhat inadequate for her size and power."

A sigh. "I'm afraid we're about to get more visitors in this star system, Sub-Commander. Lursa and B'Etor to be exact." As Tal'Shan's eyes narrowed on hearing that, he added, "They're ferrying an El-Aurian scientist to the planet below so he can launch a sun-killer missile into the Veridian star just like what happened at Amargosa recently." As the Romulan officer nodded at that, he stated, "We're here to stop him. And given _Haida_'s capability of detecting cloaked ships, they are helping us."

Tal'Shan hummed. "Stand by, Captain."

The screen's image faded to the black phoenix clutching the Hearth Worlds insignia of the Star Empire. Hiromi smiled. "You got their attention."

"Will Sela help us?" Picard asked.

"I cannot answer that. It depends on how she views those two these days."

The intercom chimed. "Data to Picard."

"Picard here."

"Signal from _Haida_. They've detected a Klingon Bird of Prey having de-warped at system's edge. It is now approaching Veridian III. Time of arrival, thirty-six minutes."

A sigh. "So it begins. Data, signal the _N'ventnar_. Inform Sub-Commander Tal'Shan about this and recommend they cloak themselves right away."

"Acknowledged, Captain."

"Inviting them to join in?" Kirk asked.

"Or at least to stay out of it," Picard said as he stood up.

_**To be continued . . .**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES:**

1) **Sela** has appeared in several episodes of _The Next Generation_. Her first appearance being in shadows in the fourth-season episode "The Mind's Eye," she would later appear in the fourth-season finale "Redemption," the fifth-season opener "Redemption II" and the fifth-season episode "Unification II." She has also appeared in the computer game _Star Trek - Armada_ and has been a popular character in various novels, including _The Romulan Stratagem_ (ISBN 0-671-87997-9, released in 1995), written by Robert Greenberger.

2) The **Natasha Yar** that appears here is the alternate-timeline version of her from the _TNG_ third-season episode "Yesterday's Enterprise."

3) The name of Sela's father, **Volskiar**, comes from the novel _Vulcan's Heart_ (ISBN 0-671-01544-3, released in 1999), written by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz. The family name is of my own creation.

4) The concept of **Tokzheto** (pronounced **toke-ZSHEE-toe**) is actually the oldest fictional place I ever developed, dating back to my days in elementary school during the mid-1970s. I eventually transplanted that into a potential member-state of the Federation when I began writing _Star Trek_ stories back in high school in the mid-1980s, though I never had the chance to put it into an actual fanfic story until now. However, over time, I evolved the planetary concept into becoming an independent world of Terran inhabitants (like Romulus is independent from Vulcan) a considerable distance away from Earth itself. In this story, the planet is located deep in the heart of Beta Quadrant, about 40,000 light years from Federation space. Tokzheto and Romulus would be connected by a series of wormholes, just as Bajor is connected to the Gamma Quadrant. There would also be wormholes connecting the area of Tokzheto with areas near Klingon space.

5) Translation: **Mnhei'sahe** – The Ruling Passion (as first mentioned in the novel _My Enemy, My Ally_ [ISBN 0-671-70421-4, released in 1984] by Diane Duane).

6) The **Tal Shiar**, the Romulan secret police and intelligence agency, was first mentioned in the _TNG_ sixth-season episode "Face of the Enemy." Their counterparts from Tokzheto, the **Special Operations Executive** (**SOE**), takes its name from the similar British special warfare group formed at the order of Winston Churchill to fight the Nazis in occupied Europe during World War Two. A nickname of this organisation, which was carried over from the British SOE, is "**The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare**." While the SOE does have the same sort of external reach as its counterparts on the Alpha/Beta Quadrant Line, it doesn't really have anything to do with internal security monitoring or counter-espionage (unless so cleared by the Council of Monarchs, the Confederation's ruling body).

7) The Romulan commander from the original series third-season episode "The _Enterprise_ Incident" (played by Joanne Linville), was given the name **Liviana Charvanek** in the _Star Trek Customizable Card Game_, which was first released in 1994. Her aunt, Commander-General **Ael t'Rllaillieu**, and her cousin, Sub-Commander **Tafv tr'Rllaillieu**, first appeared in the novel _My Enemy, My Ally_.

8) **Uchiumi Kotono** and **Arai Mamiko** are characters from _Grand Prix_.

9) The **Remans** first appeared in the movie _Star Trek - Nemesis_.

10) The androids of **Mudd's World** appeared in the original series second-season episode "I, Mudd." Doctor **Roger Korby** and the androids of **Exo III** appeared in the first-season episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" And Mister **Flint** and the **Rayna** series of gynoids appeared in the third-season episode "Requiem for Methuselah."

11) Data's spiritual grandfather, Professor **Ira Graves**, appeared in the _TNG_ second-season episode "The Schizoid Man." This was also the only time Doctor **Selar** appeared in _The Next Generation_, though her name was mentioned from time to time in other episodes and – like Robin Lefler – she would later become a recurring character in the _Star Trek - New Frontier_ novel series by Peter David.


	9. The Battle of Veridian III, Round One

Now approaching Veridian III . . .

"What is THAT?"

The gunnery officer shook his head. "I have never seen such a ship before, Mistress," he stated. "It appears to be of the Confederation . . . " He paused on hearing a collective hiss from the other Klingons on the bridge of the _qawJa'roD_ on hearing of _that_ particularly annoying group of humans now living deep in the heart of Beta Quadrant, and then he added, "But it does not match any known ship class."

"It almost appears Starfleet in a way," B'Etor mused as the image of the large wedge-shaped warship with its many obvious weapons mounts grew on the main view screen. She then scowled. "What is that flag amidships? What does it represent?"

"The flag of an old Earth nation called 'the Dominion of Canada,' Mistress," Duy'ij answered from the tactical station. "It is that very nation that one of the Terrans' most famous warriors, Colonel Roy Jameston, lived and fought for before their Third World War." She sneered. "She was the one who eliminated the Optimum Movement."

Another angry hiss escaped many of the other Klingons on being reminded of the infamous Terran augments, the "super-race" of warriors who had indirectly caused many natives of Qo'noS such misery for over a century; leaders of the Optimum Movement such as Phillip Green were augments. "So what does this represent?" Lursa then asked.

"The nucleii quantum vibration frequency of this ship and all aboard her are quite different from our own," the disguised Imperial Intelligence general then declared. "I would believe they hail from another dimensional reality. One in which Earth achieved warp flight before moving towards any sort of political unification." She then nodded to the image of the Galaxy-class ship in the near distance. "No doubt, _Enterprise_ chanced upon them and offered assistance. The Federates are like that in the end, Mistress. It was just ill-luck that brought them to the world Doctor Soran requires."

"You need not seek a confrontation with them."

Eyes locked on the lone non-Klingon now at the aft hatchway. "What do you mean?" B'Etor stated before she blinked as Tolian Soran handed her a dataPADD.

"The final elements of my research," he said as she took the device in hand. "Beam me down to the worksite and I will transmit the unlock codes right then and there. They will take a couple of hours to transmit to you. You can then proceed on your own at this time and I get what I want."

Hearing that, B'Etor and Lursa exchanged a look before they nodded. "Agreed," the latter then stated before she smiled. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Doctor. I pray you obtain what you seek once you enter the Nexus."

"I believe I will. Oh, I would also suggest you get clear of this planet before the sun collapses," he then warned. "They do make quite a mess when that happens." As many of the Klingons on the bridge laughed at his unnecessary warning, he then gave the sisters a courteous bow. "_Qapla'_, ladies. May your enemies always fall before you."

"Farewell, Doctor," Lursa said. "Duy'ij, escort the doctor to the transporter."

A bow of her head. "Of course, Mistress."

With that, they headed off the bridge. As soon as the doors closed behind them as they proceeded to the main hull and the transporter room, Soran gazed on his escort. "Who are you?" he asked. "You don't feel like any Klingon I've ever met before."

Duy'ij smiled. "We all have our secrets, Doctor. But tell me, if I may ask: Why are you so determined to enter this Nexus place? While its capabilities are quite astounding, they cannot be replicated outside its boundaries. So why enter it?"

He stopped. "Because the predator will have no teeth there."

Silence.

"What predator do you loath so much?" she wondered.

"Time itself," Soran hissed out.

More silence.

"It is no predator."

He looked at her. "Can you be sure?"

"Oh, I am very sure of that, Doctor," she said as her eyes seemed to glow with a strange light, a scene that made Soran blink in surprise. "Time, if it is anything, is nothing more than a mocking jester. An uncaring beast that takes away everything you care for over time . . . " Her scowl turned deep. "While it laughs at you . . . "

A bolt of energy slammed into her abdomen, making her cry out in shock as she dropped to the deck. "So you're one of _them_, are you?" he asked before shaking his head and moving off, stepping right into the transporter room . . .

* * *

The _N'ventnar_ . . .

A gargled intake of breath made Sela's head snap around. "MOTHER!"

Instantly, Taf s'Mirek moved to support the staggering Natasha Yar as the strength in her legs disappeared. Sela came over to help her high centurion move the wide-eyed Natasha over to a couch in the commander's reception room, sitting her down as the younger officer drew out a specially-modified tricorder to run a scan over the Tokzhetoan Navy captain's body. "What has happened, Tasha? Tell me!" Taf asked.

A moan. "I felt . . . one like me . . . she was hurt . . . "

Sela paled. "On _Enterprise_ . . .?"

A shake of the head. "No . . . the Klingon ship . . . "

Sela blinked, and then she walked over to the wall intercom. "Pilotage."

"Yes, Commander?" K'Neth Wyjthok called back.

"Signal _Haida_. We need the exact coordinates of the Klingon vessel. Advise them that a Questor may be aboard that ship and she requires assistance."

"At once, Commander!"

* * *

The _Haida_ . . .

"A Questor on the Klingon ship?" Michelle Anderson asked.

"That's what the signal said, Lieutenant Anderson," CPO2 Nathan Cotter called up from the main communications control room.

Yoshino Tomomi looked over. "Mamiko!"

Arai Mamiko was already tapping controls. "Commencing full active scan of the Klingon vessel," she called out. "Cloaking is interfering with active scans, but . . . " Her eyes then widened. "Located! One Questor in the main corridor of the neck of the Klingon vessel, just ahead of the forward end of the main hull."

Reginald Barclay, who had been called up to the Operations Room after Jim Kirk had gone to the _Enterprise_ with Moroboshi Hiromi, walked over to lean past Mamiko to gaze on the image there. "That's right beside the transporter room."

"Send the coordinates to the _N'ventnar_!" Anderson called out.

"Aye-aye, Lieutenant," Mamiko said as she tapped controls.

The _Enterprise_ systems engineer looked over. "Why?"

"Maybe it's something their kind can sense about each other," the _Haida_'s navigation officer then said, shrugging. "It seems the right thing to do."

He took that in, and then he nodded . . .

* * *

The _qawJa'roD_ . . .

Dujduy moaned as she felt her body begin the quite slow and agonizing cellular regenerative process that was one of her true race's most incredible advantages over pure organics. Gazing down, she grimaced on seeing the pinkish fluid - which, at first glance, was just as normal as any real Klingon's blood - leaking from the wound to her body just below her diaphragm right over the linking point between her two livers and the entrance to the first of her twinned stomachs. _Lucky thing I don't eat a lot, not like the others on this ship . . .!_ she mused as she tried to focus energy on her hips to get them to pick her up so she could get into the transporter room and go after Soran. _Curses on that man! Never thought his kind would know of us . . .!_

A transporter then began to chime, humming with a quite different harmonic that was normal for Klingon or Federation units. She looked forward to see a shower of light allow a blonde, brown-eyed Terran in a black uniform appear in the corridor about a third of the way to the bridge doors. At first thinking her to be a Starfleet officer - she knew the duty uniforms were going to be redesigned to a mostly-black affair with highlights on the shoulders and the collars; having seen the prototypes, Dujduy had to admit they looked quite sharp - she then tensed on seeing the shoulder epaulettes on this woman's jacket, crossed with four gold stripes, the one closest to the neck stylised in a circular loop. Realizing that this woman was from _that_ particular planet, Dujduy moved to grasp her holstered disruptor . . .

. . . and then she relaxed as a barely-noticeable wave of energy seemed to pass over her from the new arrival, who was now moving to kneel beside her. "Ouch!" the Tokzhetoan officer - who bore the crowned diving phoenix-and-falling dagger insignia of the Special Operations Executive on her left breast, the name **N. YAR** written in Earth Latin script in gold thread over her right breast - said as she gazed on the bleeding wound. "You're going to be spending some time regenerating all that." She then gazed into Dujduy's black eyes. "Do they know the truth about you?" she asked.

A shake of the head; realising this woman was a sister Questor who had come to her aid, Dujduy relaxed herself. "No. I was trying to stop Soran . . . "

Natasha Yar perked. She had been aboard the _N'ventnar_ when Sela had sent an away team of Romulan soldiers to the Amargosa station to capture Tolian Soran. A team that had been lost to the last warrior when the damned sun literally collapsed in on itself and then exploded, taking the station with it. "Come with me," she then said as she moved to embrace the other Questor, and then she tapped her personal wrist-mounted communicator unit. "Yar to _N'ventnar_. Two to beam back. Energise."

And with that, both women disappeared in a shower of light . . .

* * *

The _Enterprise_ . . .

"Signal from _Haida_, Captain," Data stated as he turned to gaze on Picard, who was back in his place in the central chair. "The retrieval mission was a success. The officer retrieved was identified by Commander Sela as General Dujduy, the current chief of operations for Imperial Intelligence." He paused before adding, "The general is known to be a centrist in Klingon politics. She was quite highly supportive of the installation of Emperor Kahless as the new Klingon head-of-state two years ago."

"The Undying One was rumoured to have personally supported High Priest Koroth's move to restore the Emperor to life," Worf added from the tactical station, which made Picard, Riker and Troi stare in surprise at him. Noting that, the security officer sighed. "Like you, Captain, I understand what it means to publicly not speak of those such as her. And she was also a friend of both my father's and grandfather's."

"But what would she be doing on Lursa's ship?" Riker asked.

"No doubt seeking to disrupt Doctor Soran's quest to enter the Nexus."

Silence.

Picard nodded. "Why is someone of her stature and overall experience doing a field mission?" he then demanded. "Surely she could have assigned this to an experienced operations officer that could have infiltrated Lursa's crew."

Much to the surprise of the others on the _Enterprise_ bridge - though all of them were quite curious about what exactly the senior officers were speaking of, the mere mention of this being a Chi-level Most Secret subject kept their curiosity at bay; none of them wanted to spend quality time at the stockade on Jaros II if they were accused of breaching _**that**_ level of security - Worf then smiled. "Part of the reason we call the general the 'Undying One,' Captain. According to Kurn and his friends, she always handles what she considers the most sensitive missions on her own."

"Sounds a lot like something Roy Jameston would do."

Eyes locked on Sam Lavelle, who was almost at the end of his current shift at the flight control station. "Why would you make that conclusion, Lieutenant?" Data then asked.

"Didn't you ever study her at the Academy, Commander?" Lavelle stated. "Right from the Ottawa Incident all the way to the Battle of Space Station Perfection, she was right at the front of the fight every time her unit was involved. Got wounded a dozen times along the way, not to mention getting a tonne of medals for everything she . . . "

"Oh, DAMN . . .!"

Eyes turned to one of the engineering stations at the aft end of the upper bridge ramp. "What is it, Wes?" Riker asked as Wesley Crusher - who had gladly volunteered to help out with engineering monitor duties when he got back aboard the _Enterprise_ from his time on Dorvan V and the Nexus - got up.

A sigh. "Thanks, Sam! I needed that reminder!" Wesley said.

"Reminder of what!" Lavelle asked.

The son of the ship's chief medical officer gazed down on Picard. "Sir, you know of a Roy Pannan, don't you?" he asked the captain.

Picard's hazel eyes widened. "How do you know of _her_, Wesley?"

A sigh. "I met someone like General Dujduy on Dorvan V, sir. She's part of the Obsidian Order." On seeing the captain nod in understanding, Wesley added, "Before I was teleported into the Nexus, Elder Anthwara told me of a vision he had. Questors from Qo'noS, Romulus, Andor and other worlds would finally learn the truth about their sister who lives on Vulcan _but was born in the land of the Innu in her first life!_"

Silence.

"Innu . . .?" Picard said, and then his jaw dropped. "You mean . . .?"

"Québec," Wesley confirmed.

"That's where the colonel was born, Captain," Lavelle noted, his own eyes widening as a putting-it-all-together look appeared on his face.

The veteran explorer considered that, and then he took a deep breath as he considered what had just been revealed. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Roy Jameston in 2079 had haunted the halls of Starfleet - and before them, the United Earth Forces and the Canadian Armed Forces - for nearly three centuries. In tribute to her worldwide actions, the Canadian infantry officer had been declared "missing in action" by her home military in the wake of the destruction of Space Station Perfection . . . and following the convention followed by many nations at the time, she would not have been added to the "killed in action" list in the Book of Remembrance in the Peace Tower on Ottawa's Parliament Hill until there was proof positive of her demise. That "missing in action" status still remained on the books even after the Canadian Forces were folded into the United Earth Forces in 2113, also remaining in place when the U.E.F. helped establish the Federation Starfleet forty-eight years later. As a matter of fact, the 14th Infantry Battalion (Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry) of the Starfleet Marine Corps still considered Lieutenant-Colonel Glorianna T. Jameston as being a member of the unit, with her status rated "missing (fate unknown)," a quaint gesture to the woman often seen as one of the saviours of humanity from the Optimum.

But to believe that somehow . . .

Wait!

"Captain?" Troi probed.

Picard grimaced, and then he walked around the arch of the tactical station to stand close to Wesley. "Wesley, when you get the time, I want you to do a private project for me," he then said in a low voice. "Find out everything about the _Sha'ath_. It's a Vulcan exploration ship from the 2080s that may have encountered a drifting DY-400 or DY-500 class transport ship in or around 2083 Earth-time. Then compare all her scanning records with all known DY-400s and 500s that might have been in orbit over Earth at the time of the Battle for Station Perfection." As Wesley gaped, Picard held up a finger in caution. "Remember: _Private_ project! This is a Chi-level situation."

A nod. "Yes, sir."

"Captain," Worf then said. "Signal from _Haida_."

"On screen," Picard stated.

The main view screen melted into the image of Michelle Anderson. "Captain."

"Where's the Director, Lieutenant?" Picard then asked.

"She's gone down to the planet to find Doctor Soran," the Canadian Navy officer reported. "We spotted a materialiser transport down to the northern hemisphere in the mountains from the _N'ventnar_. Sure enough, that Terran-form Questor we spotted on that ship is on the planet, though we can't pick up Doctor Soran personally. We're recalibrating our sensors to see if we can sniff out any trilithium down in that area to confirm if the sun-killer missile's there or not. No doubt, whoever was trying to spoil Soran's party aboard Lursa's and B'Etor's ship somehow convinced Commander Sela's mother to go permanently shut it down. Hiromi just left two minutes ago."

"Did she go alone?" Riker asked.

"No, Takanashi Naoko went with her."

Picard nodded; he hadn't heard much from the acting sub-lieutenant since that first meeting in the _Haida_'s wardroom when this whole strange mission had begun in earnest. Given what he had learned about what an "elder mother" was supposed to do when it came to a community of Avalonians, it actually surprised Picard that a whole section of infantry soldiers like Henrietta Croce hadn't gone with them. "She's trying to keep the mob to a minimum, you mean?" he asked. On seeing Anderson nod, Picard then sighed. "Alright. Give us the coordinates where the director went down. We can use that as the aiming point in case Soran launches that missile into the Veridian sun."

"We'll send it over," the Canadian starship's navigation officer replied.

* * *

Veridian III . . .

"Onē-sama!"

Hiromi perked on hearing Takanashi Naoko's shout, and then she crouch-walked over to join the future MARS officer behind a rather large rock on a promontory hill. The distant sounds of weapons discharging had become audible the instant both women had materialised on the surface of this unpopulated Earth-like planet. As soon as she got into place, Hiromi then looked at a point off to the northwest before she scowled. "Just wonderful," she hissed. "You would think the Lady Natasha would learn caution."

Naoko's eyes narrowed before she brought up a set of binoculars to gaze down at the crouching woman about three hundred metres away. Natasha Yar was currently behind another large rock, exchanging disruptor fire with Tolian Soran, who had both the high ground and a perfect deflector shield system around the small observation platform he had built, which was connected by catwalks to two higher promontories off in the near distance. Taking a look, Hiromi sighed as her memories of _Generations_ came back to replay in her mind. The higher of the two promontories would be where Soran would place himself when the Nexus finally came to take him away from this dimension. The lower of the promontories was where the trilithium missile launcher was located, though there was no sign whatsoever of the device in question. "Naoko, scan that area," she then ordered, pointing to where the missile launcher might be.

Naoko took out her tricorder and did a sweep. "Confirmed high concentration of trilithium," she then said. "Given the amount of residue _Enterprise_ picked up on from Amargosa, it would be enough to make the Veridian sun collapse totally."

The reborn emperor nodded. "He would have to launch the missile just as the Nexus became visible in the sky over the planet," she then mused. "He would want to avoid the shockwave of the sun detonating but make sure the Nexus got to there . . . " - she pointed to the high promontory - " . . . before the planet is destroyed."

"Given that, we can run a rough calculation as to when he would have to fire the missile, Onē-sama," Naoko stated. "But we need to drop the shields around the promontory before we could allow _Haida_'s computers to make the exact calculations." She paused before pointing at Natasha's position. "Look at Captain Yar, Onē-sama."

Silence.

"'Captain' . . .?"

Naoko forced the binoculars into Hiromi's hands. The director of the Earth Defence Force took them and lifted them to her eyes to take a look. One was enough. "That's _British_ rank . . .!" she exclaimed as she lowered her binoculars, the shock of the moment quite surprising. "Even with Elliot's Eye on the upper stripe . . . "

"But how's that possible, Onē-sama?" Naoko demanded. "Starfleet uses its own ranking system, which is based mostly on the American naval rank structure."

A smirk. "Another mystery that probably never will be revealed in any future television series," Hiromi stated. "Well, let's put a stop to this."

Handing the binoculars over to _Haida_'s elder mother, the director of the Earth Defence Force got up and moved into the open before starting her descent down the hill towards a gulley where a low wall of rocks was located; remembering what she had seen in the movie, Hiromi knew that would probably be part of the outer limits of the shield system Soran put up around his equipment to prevent sabotage. Sure enough, the young woman in the jeans, jean jacket and T-shirt soon became noticeable to the El-Aurian, who instantly trained his weapon on her. "Remain where you are!" he barked out. "I will kill you if I have to!"

Hiromi stopped as she raised her hands in a peaceful gesture. "Oh, do be assured, Doctor!" she called back. "I've no desire to stop your journey into the Nexus!" On sensing a flash of surprise from the older man, she added, "You might say I've come down here to help you get there without the necessity of you firing your delightful little firecracker at the star overhead."

More silence.

"What the HELL are you doing?" Natasha yelled out from her position.

Hiromi moaned. "Captain Yar, please!" she said as she looked over to where the _Enterprise_'s former tactical officer - in another timeline - was. "I'm trying to have a civilised discussion with the good doctor here! You making pot-shots at him won't help that happen! So please, don't interrupt me!" With that, she looked back at Soran, shrugging. "Believe it or not, sir, I've no idea where the good captain came from. From what I know of her, she should've been dead for twenty-two years."

Surprised by the show of friendliness this rather young woman was demonstrating to him, Soran then relaxed himself, though he kept his disruptor at the ready. "Why do you care?" he then asked, making a beckoning motion with his free hand to permit her to approach. As she walked down towards him, moving to take a seat about four metres from the limit line of his shielding system - which surprised him, though he wasn't really upset at the fact that she somehow knew about his defences - he then added, "I've never met you before. I don't know you. Who are you and why are you here?"

Hiromi relaxed herself. "Consider me a visitor who took interest in you when three people from my dimension wound their way into the Nexus - quite by accident - not more than a couple of days ago," she replied. "We had to go in to get them out of there, which we did quite recently. And in the midst of doing that, we made a most profound discovery." She reached into her pocket to pull something out.

"This."

Soran looked . . .

. . . and then his breath caught in his throat as his own meta-senses locked onto the glittering diamond-like crystal in the younger woman's hand. As the El-Aurian was struck by waves of haunting familiarity, Hiromi took a moment to examine the formation of rocks in front of the doctor's current position. Recognising a small pile of rocks that could be cleared away - and hopefully provide a "hole" in the shield around Soran's work area which would allow her to pass the mesonium crystal to him without alarming him unnecessarily - she calmly got up and walked slowly over to that location. Gazing at him - who had remained rooted in place, his grey eyes wide with confusion and disbelief at what his meta-senses were telling him - she then sat down on a nearby rock and then, with her free hand, cleared away several of the smaller chips of stone to make a hole large enough to pass her hand through. With that, she held up the crystal to attract his attention once more, and then she placed it right at the centre of the hole she had just made. Once that was done, Hiromi stood and took a couple paces back from the shield line, waving him over to what she had done.

Blinking - though there was still a part of him that was screaming out to be very cautious about this - Soran walked over, keeping his disruptor at the ready, to where the hole had been made. Kneeling - and trying desperately to not turn his eyes away from the beautiful teenage Terran girl despite what his heart was yelling at him to pay closer attention to - he reached over to take the crystal in hand . . .

. . . and then he gasped as he felt something surge right through his body as the crystal suddenly _melted_ into his skin. As Soran staggered to the ground as memories and sensations he had not encountered before flooded his soul, Hiromi crouched down to place her hands on her knees. "Don't fight it, Doctor. Let it come to you," she gently urged. As he stared wide-eyed at her while his mind echoed with the sudden input of the soul fragment retrieved by Koeru Kumomi a day before, she added, "That is what truly happened to you seventy-eight years agone near Earth. Your soul - not to mention the souls of all the other 'survivors' from the _Lakul_ - was _**split**_ when the good Captain Scott tried to rescue you from the Nexus' embrace. Now - as we recently just did for the Lady Guinan on _Enterprise_ and what we hope to do for the others - your soul is whole and complete once again, Doctor."

Silence fell as he considered that, and then he moaned as he leaned down and began throwing up his most recent meal. As Hiromi winced from the waves of agony and confusion radiating from the El-Aurian, she then blinked on sensing Naoko come up to her. "Onē-sama, that's _not_ the way to do a proper _satre'cha_," the acting sub-lieutenant scolded as she stared knowingly at the reborn emperor, and then she walked over, pulling her field bag off her shoulder as she drew out a Lawgiver from the holster strapped to her waist, and then she aimed at a point off to her right. "Energy disrupt, Level Ten," she called out before squeezing the pistol's trigger.

"_Energy disrupt, Level Ten_," the pistol's on-board computer replied . . .

. . . before a bolt of energy lashed out to slam into the shield surrounding Soran's worksite, causing that to flare brightly for a second before the energy dynamo powering it near the main control platform overloaded and exploded. Without pause, she then marched over, stepping past the limits of the shielding system without harm before she walked over to kneel beside the gasping Soran. Holstering her weapon, she placed the field bag aside as she gently pressed her fingertips into his skull, her mind instantly reaching out into his. "Be calm, Thoughtmaster-prime," she whispered. "Be calm. For so long, your _mei'na_ sought to reunite with the fragment stolen by the Nexus. Let it come back to you. Let it come back to you and make you whole . . . "

The gasps and groans escaping the El-Aurian soon melted into a tired moan as he allowed himself to be comforted by the Terran-form Avalonian naval officer. By then, Natasha had walked out from her own hiding place to come down and stand beside Hiromi, a Romulan disruptor in hand and ready to fire if required. "Is he alright?" the Tokzhetoan-form Questor captain then asked as she gazed on the reborn emperor.

"Aye, Lady Natasha. For the first time in nearly eight decades," Hiromi said.

By then, Soran was now breathing deeply as he allowed his body to recover some equilibrium from having been forced to vomit his last meal. Naoko held him close, allowing him to rest himself as his energy returned to him, and then she smiled as he slowly pulled away from her, nodding his thanks. "I must confess, Madame Moroboshi, that was a nice try," he then said as he gazed on Hiromi. "And it succeeded."

"Do you still wish to enter the Nexus?" she asked.

Surprised by that offer, he blinked before nodding. "I would."

"So be it, then," Hiromi stated as she straightened herself. "The materialiser units on _Haida_ or any of her Star Flare shuttles can easily send you into the Nexus directly without risk to any of the ships." She then winked at him. "Though given your obvious involvement in the destruction of Amargosa, I would strongly suggest, sir - as a show of good faith to Captain Picard on the _Enterprise_ - that you destroy the missile you built to collapse the sun overhead."

He stared at her, and then he took up his own disruptor and swung around, aiming it at the nearby promontory. A squeeze of the trigger later, a bolt of energy lashed out to strike the base of the invisible launcher, causing it to flare as shattered energy conduits and severed fuel lines ignited. A moment later, the whole works exploded in a bright and big flash of energy and shattered metal that made everyone automatically duck even if the majority of the fragments showered the slopes of the hill where the launcher had been sited many metres away. A moment later, the main control area also began to explode as feedback from the destroyed launcher overloaded all the electronics there. As he watched the results of years of work - work that was now no longer necessary for him to use - slowly destroy itself, Soran felt a smile cross his face. Turning to gaze back on Hiromi, he then said, "What use is technology when you have the power of Eternity itself within your grasp?"

"As long as you remember Eternity is something that will not be conquered . . . even if Her Aspect within the Nexus allows you the peace you've long desired," she advised.

He considered that for a moment, and then his eyes narrowed. "You're not human. At least not Terran-pure human. You're just like Naoko here." He indicated the maritime operations cadet officer with a wave of his hand. "What are you?"

"An Avalonian. In effect, a fully-organic version of a Questor like the good Captain Yar standing with us now," Hiromi replied. "In the meantime, let's get you up to the _Haida_, where the healers there will be more than happy to ensure your full emotional and mental health before you join your countrymen in the Nexus." With that, she reached into her pocket to pull out her communicator. "Moroboshi to _Haida_."

"_Haida_, Anderson," came the reply from well above their heads.

"Have the materialisers lock in on my signal, Lieutenant," the reborn emperor instructed. "Four to beam up, with one to transfer to the _N'ventnar_ when she comes aboard."

"Aye, ma'am!"

Showers of energy soon saw them all whisked away from Veridian III . . .

* * *

The _qawJa'roD_ . . .

"_**WHAT?**_"

"It's true, Mistress!" the weapons officer reported. "Duy'ij is no longer aboard the ship! We found blood in the corridor outside the transporter room . . . "

"Mistress!"

"WHAT?" Lursa screamed out.

"The communications link with the surface has been cut!" the signals officer stated. "Scans of the surface show the entire work zone destroyed!"

Hearing that, both Lursa and B'Etor exchanged shocked looks. "Did you get the encryption de-lock from Soran before the signal was lost?" the former then asked.

A shake of the head. "We only gained ten percent of it, Mistress."

"Picard!"

B'Etor spun on her sister. "What . . .?"

"It's Picard!" Lursa snarled as she turned to glare on the image of the _Enterprise_ on the forward view screen. "He must have learned what Soran was doing and stopped him before we could get the information unlocked to make use of it!" A hiss. "Soran must have sold himself off to the Federation, the long-lived _petaQ_!"

B'Etor blinked. "Duy'ij must have realised it . . . "

"And she died for it," Lursa concluded.

"We must avenge her!" the weapons officer snarled.

A toothy grimace crossed the face of the elder daughter of Ja'rod. "So we will, Yanvak. This I vow, so we will. Arm all weapons and prepare to de-cloak!"

"At once, Mistress!"

The crew leapt into action as the sisters took their chairs and B'Etor manned the periscope-like device that would allow her to remote-control any torpedoes launched from either the _qawJa'roD_'s bow or stern tubes. Lursa tapped controls on her chair to bring up her own scanner unit from a side console, which were linked to the wing disruptors. All of which had been painstakingly improved on by a hard-working Duy'ij over the last couple of years to bring the old gallant D12-class scout to standards not even the modern and similarly-sized B'Rel-class scouts and their much larger cousins, the K'Vort-class patrol cruisers, could equal. "A pity she didn't find a way to replicate the fire-while-cloaked abilities of General Chang's old ship," B'Etor snarled as she locked the guidance sensors on _Enterprise_'s secondary hull right below the base of the interconnecting pylon.

"She was working on it. The notes will be in her quarters," Lursa said as she locked both wing disruptors on the same area. "Are we ready?"

The crew all roared their support. "_Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam_!" the elder sister hissed out before she barked, "De-cloak the ship and raise shields!"

"Done, Mistress!" the weapons officer barked back as the lights on the bridge switched to more brighter tones as energy was redirected . . .

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Ops, Starboard Lookout! Klingon vessel de-cloaking, bearing green 63 mark 49!"

"On screen!" Michelle Anderson barked out.

People turned to watch as the _qawJa'roD_ appeared in the high orbital skies over Veridian III, heading straight for the _Enterprise_, which was well over a hundred kilometres ahead of _Haida_'s bow. Quickly seeing that the Bird of Prey's gun wings were in attack position, Douglas Tremblay gaped. "Are they insane? They can't . . .!"

The Klingon ship opened fire with disruptors and a double-shot of torpedoes. To the surprise - and the horror of those _Enterprise_ crewmembers in the operations room watching this - the bolts of energy slammed through _**and penetrated**_ the starship's shields to rip into the hull right around where the ship's main engineering section was located. Scant seconds later, the torpedoes struck home to make their own score.

"Oh, my . . .!" Reginald Barclay gasped.

"**_ACTION STATIONS!_**" Anderson barked out.

"Action stations, aye!" Yoshino Tomomi repeated as she tapped a control.

Instantly, a deep gonging noise echoed throughout the Canadian starship . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"DAMAGE REPORT!" Picard screamed out.

"Direct hits on the secondary hull, Decks 36, 37 and 38, starboard side!" Data called back as Sam Lavelle tried to right the shuddering Galaxy-class ship from the sudden broadside that had caught them all off guard. "Secondary plasma relays in that section of the hull have been severed. Warp core coolant systems unaffected!"

"Get us out of orbit!" the captain bellowed.

As Lavelle tapped controls to swing _Enterprise_ to port and pull her away from the planet to get some manoeuvring room, _qawJa'roD_ swung with her as disruptor fire raked the larger ship's hull, slamming into her port warp nacelle, the interconnecting pylon between her two main hulls and the port area of her primary hull close to the bridge. That last series of blows caused the bulkhead on the port side of the bridge to explode inward, showering the ensign at the tactical sensor station with sparks as an energy overload electrocuted him. As he collapsed to his side, screaming in agony, Deanna Troi leapt over to administer first aide as Worf played with the weapons controls. "Returning fire, sir!" he barked out as he sent off two torpedoes from the aft tube, followed by several bursts from the upper nacelle pylon arrays.

The _qawJa'roD_ shook slightly from the phaser impact, but was able to get clear before the photon torpedoes would have slammed into the underside of her secondary hull. Both missiles streaked off harmlessly towards Veridian III's atmosphere as Lavelle pushed all the power he safely could into the impulse engines to get some manoeuvring room for his captain so they could regroup and fight back hard. "How'd they punch through our shields like that?" he called out as he monitored the oncoming Bird of Prey on his console operations screen. "We had our shields up! That's not possible!"

"It appears that, despite the vessel being a D12-class Bird of Prey, there have been marked improvements in all her weapons systems," Data stated as he began deep scans. "Even more advanced than current serving models in the Klingon Navy. Moving to scan the energy discharges at this time!" He braced himself as several more bolts of energy slammed into _Enterprise_, blasting apart the starboard Bussard collector and causing the starboard impulse drive exhaust port on the edge of the primary hull to explode as two bolts slammed in to detonate one of the fusion reactors. THAT blow rocked _Enterprise_ hard as her speed was cut by a good twenty percent, allowing the pursuing Klingon vessel to close the distance for a point-blank torpedo attack . . .

* * *

_N'ventnar_ . . .

"How is that possible?" Sela demanded.

"Sadly, it is my fault."

Eyes spun around to gaze on the visibly haggard Klingon-form Questor now standing close to Taf s'Mirek's station, though she was leaning on his console to stay upright. "What do you mean, General?" the Romulan warship's high centurion asked.

"I had to do much to win their trust when I came aboard as 'Duy'ij,' my dear High Centurion," the general in command of Imperial Intelligence replied. "I improved the disruptors and torpedoes to make that ship the match of any vessel, Klingon or Federation." A wry grin crossed her face. "It did much to convince them . . . "

"That you were earnest in supporting their drive to put that brat Toral into the Chancellor's chair on Qo'noS," Sela finished for their visitor from that world.

A tired nod. "Aye . . . "

"Commander, should we intervene?" K'Neth Wyjthok asked.

"No! Don't!"

Eyes snapped around to Dujduy. "Why?" Tal'Shan B'Krensalh demanded.

"The weapons on that ship, good pilot, would rip through your shields like a heated _d'k tahg_ would through a person's skin," the general replied.

"Commander!"

Sela looked over. "What is it?"

"The _Haida_ is moving in on the _qawJa'roD_," the centurion manning scanners said.

Eyes locked on the screen to see an odd procession of starships - the limping _Enterprise_ being stalked and raked by the faster _qawJa'roD_, the latter in turn now with a serenely-soaring _Haida_ closing the range to her - pass from right to left on the main view screen. "What will she do . . .?" Sela then whispered . . .

* * *

_qawJa'roD_ . . .

"Mistress! The alien vessel stalks us!"

"WHAT?" B'Etor roared. "View aft!"

The image of the wounded _Enterprise_ vanished, replaced by the bow-on view of the strange wedge-shaped alien ship with its gawky blue hull paint coming at them. Seeing the upper pair of triple-gun main turrets swing slightly around to aim right at them, B'Etor keyed controls on her master torpedo control. "Aft torpedoes! Firing!"

The Bird of Prey shook as the twin-shot missiles discharged . . .

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"TORPEDOES INCOMING!"

"Starboard thirty!" Anderson barked out. "Engage Sea-whiz!"

The Canadian starship immediately turned to starboard, her great port flank now showing towards the oncoming torpedoes from _qawJa'roD_. "Torpedoes incoming! Sea-whiz port battery engaging!" PO2 John Hopkins called out. "Firing now!"

A strange rumble echoed through _Haida_ as Reginald Barclay and Judy-Anne Ballard watched wide-eyed while a virtual STORM of what appeared to be micro-photon torpedoes leapt out from many points on the Canadian starship's side to literally fill the space in front of the Klingon weapons with mixed explosions of both anti-matter and supercharged cobalt. The two torpedoes flew right into the conflagration, their warheads instantly detonating from the multiple concussive waves of exploding energy from the mini-missiles that served as _Haida_'s second-to-last line of defence against incoming attack.

"Both incoming targets down!" Hopkins barked.

"Michelle!" Sally Carpenter called up from the ship's Fire Control Room, located in the lower part of the upper forward superstructure. "Swinging main guns to port!"

"Wait for it, Sally," the navigation officer called back . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"Both torpedoes launched on _Haida_ destroyed at 620 kilometres before impact, Captain," Data said. "No damage to _Haida_. She is arming main cannons."

"Unbelievable!" William Riker breathed out.

"They may be trying to draw off the Bird of Prey's fire, Captain!" Worf said.

Picard nodded as the starboard turbolift opened to reveal a medical team having come up from Sick Bay, led by Beverly Crusher. "Let's hope they succeed . . . "

* * *

_qawJa'roD_ . . .

"How DARE they . . .?"

"I think they can be defeated, Mistress!"

Lursa and B'Etor looked at the weapons officer. "How?" the former demanded.

"The alien clearly employs a close-in defensive weapons system to deter torpedo attacks," Yanvak said. "If that's true, they may not have shields that can stop our torpedoes! If we use disruptors to destroy their defensive missiles first after firing torpedoes at them, we can then strike with more torpedoes and damage the ship! Then we can concentrate on _Enterprise_!"

"DO IT!" B'Etor roared out. "SWING US ABOUT!"

_**To be continued . . .**_


	10. The Battle of Veridian III, Round Two

_Haida_ . . .

"What's happening?"

Michelle Anderson turned as the aft doors to the operations room closed behind Moroboshi Hiromi, the latter moving to take her place at the central plotting table as Takanashi Naoko joined Yoshino Tomomi at the operations officer's position. "_Enterprise_ took several hits from photon torpedoes and disruptors; somehow, the Klingons found a way to penetrate their shields even if they didn't use Geordi's VISOR to spy on their main engineering monitor boards!" Douglas Tremblay explained as Hiromi watched the _qawJa'roD_ - she had learned the name of Lursa's and B'Etor's craft from Tolian Soran, who was now in the care of Doctor Elaine Cooper in Sick Bay - move to swing on the Canadian starship. "She's already fired torpedoes on us; she's got an aft tube, but only forward-firing wing disruptors. Looks like . . . "

"Ops, EWCR!"

Anderson tapped a control. "Ops, go!"

"Picking up a targeting sensor from the bogey!" Petty Officer 2nd Class Ken Gibberly, the senior naval electronic sensor operator on _Haida_ at the time when she had transitioned to the Federation's universe, answered from the ship's electronic warfare control room. "Possible photon torpedoes incoming!"

"Sea-whiz!" Anderson barked out.

"Sea-whiz ready!" PO2 Hopkins called from his station.

"Sally! Stand by full broadside of main guns!"

"Ops, FCR, aye-aye!" Sally Carpenter called up from the fire control room. "Turrets Alpha, Bravo, Delta, Romeo, Sierra and X-Ray: All loaded solid shot sabot rocket-assisted rounds. Turrets Charlie, Foxtrot, Golf, Tango, Yankee and Zulu: All loaded particle photon shot, high explosive! All turrets locked on approaching tango, range 22,000 kilometres, closing at 15,000 kilometres per minute!"

"Engage main guns at 5,000 kilometres!"

"Engage at 5,000, aye-aye!"

Anderson looked at Hopkins. "John, hold off Sea-whiz until the tango's torpedoes gets to 500 kilometres from the ship," she firmly instructed.

John Hopkins stared wide-eyed at her - _Haida_'s CIWS missiles were always meant to be used at maximum range of a thousand kilometres - and then he nodded, quickly sensing what the navigation officer/officer of the watch had in mind right now. "Aye-aye, ma'am. Sea-whiz will not engage until tango's torpedoes are at five hundred K from ship's port side!"

At her chair, Hiromi tapped a control. "Director to Materialiser Room Nine."

"Mat Room Nine, Chitose here!"

"Satomi-chan, lock materialisers on the . . . "

"TORPEDOES INCOMING!"

Everyone watched as the glowing red double-shot of the highly-charged energy-cloaked missiles raced out of _qawJa'roD_'s bow tube for _Haida_ . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"Two torpedoes inbound on _Haida_!" Worf called out.

"Is she firing her close defence weapons?" Picard demanded.

"Negative, Captain," Data replied.

"Kirk to Crusher!"

Beverly Crusher, who was in the midst of dealing with the fallen ensign who had been wounded from the exploding port bulkhead panel, tapped her comm badge. "Crusher!"

"Bones, we need you in the starboard impulse control room!" Jim Kirk answered, instantly making _Enterprise_'s chief medical officer blush on hearing the veteran explorer call her by the nickname he had once bestowed on his own chief medical officer, the now-retired Starfleet Surgeon-General, Admiral Leonard McCoy. "The reactor explosion ruptured bulkheads in this part of the ship! We've got civilian casualties!"

"Go!" Picard bade.

"Acknowledged, Captain! I'm coming down!" Crusher said.

With that, she exchanges a knowing nod with Alyssa Ogawa - who had come up with her from Sick Bay - and then she raced for the turbolift to head below. "Torpedoes 7,500 kilometres from _Haida_," Data automatically called out as people's eyes locked on the main view screen. "Klingon vessel approaching _Haida_, range 12,000 kilometres."

"Are her close defence weapons firing?" Picard asked again.

"Negative, Captain. She is holding fire," Wolf stated. "However, _Haida_'s main guns are armed. Solid shot sabot rounds in the upper turrets, particle bolts in the lower turrets. _Haida_ has a firing solution on the Bird of Prey."

"Torpedoes 3,500 kilometres from _Haida_. Klingon vessel, 8,000 kilometres."

"She's luring them in," William Riker stated.

"It feels that way," Deanna Troi confirmed.

"Lieutenant Lavelle, swing us around to bring phasers and forward torpedo tube to bear on the Bird of Prey, but keep us clear of _Haida_'s arc of fire!" Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir!" Sam Lavelle said as he tapped controls . . .

* * *

_N'ventnar_ . . .

"Are they blind?" K'Neth demanded.

"No! Whoever commands that ship has Klingon blood in her!"

Eyes locked on Dujduy, and then Sela nodded. "So it seems . . . "

* * *

_qawJa'roD_ . . .

"She's not firing her weapons, Mistress!"

"WHAT?" B'Etor barked.

"She's not firing!" Yanvak screamed. "They would have launched by now!"

"Torpedoes now five hundred _qelI'qammey_ from the alien!" the sensor officer stated. "We're now 3,000 _qelI'qammey_ from her! Torpedoes now three hundred . . .!"

"She's firing close defence!" Yanvak roared.

"Firing disruptors!" Lursa snapped . . .

* * *

_Haida_, that very moment . . .

"Sea-whiz engaging!" PO2 Hopkins barked out.

"Main guns firing!" Sally Carpenter added.

Michelle Anderson grinned. "_Sayonara_, sucker!"

* * *

It happened within seconds.

As the double-shot torpedoes from _qawJa'roD_ passed the inner line of _Haida_'s CIWS engagement envelope, hundreds of missile tubes opened up and spat out their loads, which raced at hundreds of times the speed of sound at the alien weapons threatening their launch platform. At the same time, the Bird of Prey's wing disruptors opened up, spitting a spray of energy at near-luminal speeds at the defensive missile envelope to trigger a chain explosion, thus hopefully allowing the torpedoes to strike home and - as Lursa and B'Etor both prayed would happen - cause damage to the strange alien ship from another dimension. Simultaneously, twelve of the Terran star battleship's main gun turrets spat out a broadside volley of thirty-six guns. The six turrets mounted on the upper part of _Haida_'s hull bearing on target fired rocket-assisted solid-shot sabot rounds, which flew at many thousands of times the speed of sound to deliver a kinetic energy blow thanks to a central body made of depleted uranium with a core of bauximite designed to explode once the casing was ripped apart by hypersonic impact force. The six turrets on the lower part of the hull fired a magnetically-contained energy bolt of hyper-charged particle photons that flew at almost the speed of light, they encompassing a beam of bauximite gas that would detonate on contact with any type of energy. Like an enemy ship's defence shields.

It was almost mutual destruction . . . save for one thing.

_qawJa'roD_ was a scout ship, double the size of any of _Haida_'s four CSV-194 Star Flare large warp-capable armed transport scouts carried in her main hangar bay.

_Haida_ was almost twice as long and displaced fifty percent more mass than the Negh'Var-class battleships that had been recently commissioned in the Klingon Navy.

And she had the firepower to match that size.

At roughly three hundred kilometres from the Canadian starship's hull, the disruptor bolts from the Klingon scout ship's slammed into the first wave of Sea-whiz missiles, causing their warheads to explode and start a chain reaction that soon detonated the whole mass of missiles. This - unfortunately for the incoming torpedoes from _qawJa'roD_ - created the necessary screen of expanding energy that would detonate their warheads long before they got close to the outer of _Haida_'s shields. Of course, Yanvak had betted on that and B'Etor was moving to launch another torpedo attack in the hopes of catching the alien starship before it could reload and fire again.

Which was what Michelle Anderson had hoped for.

The six clusters of swirling energy beams lashing out from _Haida_ slammed into _qawJa'roD_'s shields, causing them to flare badly as the unusual energy being unleashed over them - like mesonium, bauximite was also unknown in the Federation's universe - unleashed tremendous pressure on the protective fields and causing many of the shield dynamos within the Klingon vessel's hull to catastrophically fail, they exploding in bright geysers of fire that made stripped critical areas of the ship of her protective defensive fields . . . just as the solid-shot rounds slammed into the hull!

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

Picard breathed out, "_Mon Dieu_ . . .!"

As the bridge crew watched in muted horror and fascination, half of the Klingon vessel's command module literally blew apart as the starboard wing was shredded in six places and the port wing was virtually blasted clear at the roots close to the warp core. A second later, a secondary explosion caused the whole boom of the _qawJa'roD_ to be blown clear of the main hull. At his station, Sam Lavelle jerked on seeing a body stumble clear from the exposed main corridor by the transporter room; knowing what happened to a humanoid body, it would take but seconds for the loss of pressure to cause the poor Klingon warrior to literally explode into his component cells . . .

. . . but a flash of what was clearly transporter energy made him vanish!

"What the hell . . .!" the flight controller demanded.

The command team had seen it, too. "Is that us?" Troi asked.

"Negative, Counsellor! It's _Haida_!" Data called back.

"Open hailing frequencies," Picard called out.

Worf tapped controls. "Hailing frequencies open." A pause. "Captain, they were communicating with us as well. Director Moroboshi is responding. On main screen."

The screen at the forward end of the bridge switched to a view of the Canadian starship's operations room. "Hello, Jean-Luc," Hiromi said from her chair.

"Did you just rescue Lursa, B'Etor and their crew?" the captain asked.

"They're being held in mid-transport right now," the reborn emperor stated. "They've behaved most dishonourably since the good Lord Chancellor K'mpec passed into _Stovoqor_ four years ago. Allowing them to die like _honourable_ warriors doesn't seem proper, so we'll keep them in suspension until the Lady General Dujduy can call upon her friends on Qo'noS to send a ship so they can be delivered to Rura Penthe or whatever penal colony would be most befitting for their actions against His Imperial Majesty's government." She then tapped a control to open a three-way link. "_Haida_ to _N'ventnar_. Lady Commander Sela, I do believe you can de-cloak yourselves at this time now that the _qawJa'roD_ is a wreck. Is the Lady General Dujduy with you?"

"I am here, Director Moroboshi," a deep woman's voice responded.

"Do you wish three-way visual, Captain?" Worf asked.

"Please, Mister Worf," Picard stated.

The view screen image divided in half, the starboard side showing the bright pilotage room of a Romulan warbird, all stations manned. A second later, the visage of a very beautiful young Klingon in normal battle dress stepped into view. "Picard."

"General Dujduy. My congratulations on the success of your mission."

Surprised by the human captain's show of respect, Dujduy slowly nodded. "It was a victory for all of us, Captain Picard. I will speak to Admiral Shyrae when the chance comes to pass on my commendation for your actions in this adventure."

"It is appreciated, General," the captain replied. Fleet Admiral Ky'los Shyrae, an Andorian-form Questor, was the true director-in-chief of Section 31 of Starfleet Intelligence (to keep her existence hidden, other people served as the "public" face of the group even if Section 31 itself was practically unknown to the average Federation citizen). She had served in Starfleet since its foundation in 2161; she had been part of the Andorian Imperial Guard - a contemporary of Captain Jonathan Archer's friend and ally, Commander Thy'lek Shran - before the United Federation of Planets had been created. It was Shyrae who kept some of the more radical members of Section 31 - who sometimes behaved as badly towards helpless civilians as their counterparts in both the Romulan Tal Shiar and the Cardassian Obsidian Order - to remain locked on its core mission to be forever vigilant against any potential extreme threat to the Federation and her citizens. Not even people like Picard's old Academy classmate Cortin Zweller - who had actually briefed the _Enterprise_'s captain on the Questors when he first took command of the _Stargazer_ decades before - were stupid enough to cross a woman like Shyrae. "Do you require medical assistance? We learned you were wounded by Doctor Soran . . . "

A shake of the head. "My body is regenerating right now, Captain. Your offer is most appreciated. Still, when I am well enough, I would like to come aboard." Dujduy's eyes fixed on the android at the operations manager's station. "After all, it seems we have a little brother who has been allowed to restore his daughter to life and health."

Data blinked. "You honour me, General."

"Captain!"

Picard tensed. "What is it, Mister Ki!"

"You got a problem in your . . .!"

At that second, a violent explosion rocked _Enterprise_ from stem to stern!

* * *

_N'ventnar_ . . .

"What's happening?" Sela demanded as the visual link with _Enterprise_ was cut.

"I'm detecting explosions in her starboard warp nacelle that are back-feeding energy into her warp core, Commander!" Taf s'Mirek stated. "She's suffering coolant system failures! There's the strong potential of a warp core breach!"

Sela winced. That was the one true weakness of Federation starship designs; their dependence on anti-matter to help fuel their faster-than-light drive systems. While the artificial quantum singularities that were used in Romulan warbirds had their own inherent dangers, they were easier to deal with than something as naturally volatile as anti-matter in what was normally a positive matter universe. "De-cloak the ship!" she barked out. "Stand by to raise shields! Have medical teams on standby!"

"Yes, Commander!" Tal'Shan B'Krensalh replied as she tapped controls . . .

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Coolant leak! We have a coolant leak! Everyone out!"

As people listened to Geordi La Forge's voice on the open link between _Haida_ and _Enterprise_, Douglas Tremblay gazed at Ki Tsukihana. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Engaging ship's automated search-and-rescue protocols, Tremblay-taii!" the young genius from Chichibu stated as he tapped controls. "Picard-taisa! Get ready to separate the ship! La Forge-shōsa won't be able to stop that coolant leak! You've got about five minutes before that warp core goes up!"

"Understood!" Picard called back.

"_Enterprise_, this is Drum Major Colvin!" a young man's voice called out. "We're getting stretcher teams to all the materialiser rooms so we can assist with casualties if they're there! Drop your shields so we can beam them out!"

"Shields are down!" Worf called out from _Enterprise_'s bridge.

"Chief Colvin, get at the casualties in the starboard impulse drive chamber first!" Beverly Crusher's voice cut in. "Beam the medics with them!"

"Aye-aye, Doc!"

"Data, prepare to separate the ship!" Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir!"

At her station, Yoshino Tomomi frowned. "Data-san, be very careful! You're still too close to the planet. If you don't get clear of the secondary hull before the warp core goes, the blast wave could send you flying right into the atmosphere!"

"Wait! I have an idea!"

"What!" Anderson demanded as she gazed on Tsukihana.

"Concussion missiles!" he responded as controls were pressed to give him full control to _Haida_'s long-range anti-ship/anti-surface missile armament. "If we used an encompassing attack from both port and starboard sides, hitting the keel and foretops at the same time, we'll overwhelm whatever force bursts from the detonating warp core and direct any energy away from the primary hull! She's got only one impulse drive to use to manoeuvre now, so she can't get as far away!"

"Do it, Mister Ki!" Picard called out.

"_Enterprise_, this is _N'ventnar_," Sela's voice cut in. "We're monitoring your situation and comprehend the problem. We'll take your primary hull under tow once you've ejected the secondary hull and pull you clear."

"Watch your backside for any blast wave, Commander!" Anderson advised.

"We'll be fine!"

"Appreciated, Commander!" Picard called out . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"_Starship separation in four minutes. All personnel, evacuate the secondary hull. Starship separation in three minutes, fifty seconds. All personnel . . ._ "

As the emergency alarms blared, within the interconnecting pylon close to the link points with the primary hull, crew and civilian dependants were making their way up turbolifts and emergency ladders to get into the upper hull evacuation zones on Decks 8, 9 and 10 forward and above the battle bridge at the very top of the secondary hull. Monitoring this from his present location close to the battle bridge, Geordi La Forge nodded in satisfaction. "Bridge!" he called out as he tapped his communicator. "We've got most of the people out! We can begin separation in about a minute!"

"Negative, Geordi!" Data called back. "Robin is reporting that she has a group of about forty-five civilians on Deck 39; she's having trouble trying to access turbolifts to get them out. The damaged power conduits in that area are blocking turbolift controls!"

"We can evacuate to the lifeboats, Geordi!" Robin Lefler called in.

"La Forge-shōsa, this is Kōgetsuei!" Tsukihana cut in from _Haida_. "I can have them all beamed to Materialiser Room Six right now!"

La Forge nodded. "Do it, Tsukihana!"

"Roger! Lefler-chūi, stand by!"

"We're standing by!" Lefler called back . . .

* * *

_Haida_ Operations Room . . .

"Onē-san, we need to get those Klingons somewhere else on the ship!" Hakaru Ayami called out from the combat officer's station next to Tsukihana's post. "The ship's SAR protocols need all materialiser systems working!"

"Put them in the brig!" Douglas Tremblay barked out before tapping a control to open a link to the regulating section of the ship. "Tremblay to Glas! Don, you've got guests coming in to the brig chambers now! Make sure they don't misbehave!"

"Roger that, Captain!" Warrant Officer Don Glas, an Air Force military policeman now serving as the division petty officer of _Haida_'s on-board military police team, called back from his office next to the ship's regulating office where the coxswain and his team of assistants normally worked. "Glas to Flag Officer Quarters. Miss Koro, can you hear me, ma'am?"

"Koro here, Warrant. We're monitoring what's happening. Haneko, Kumomi and Asumi are heading down to join you to keep that crowd controlled."

"Appreciated, ma'am! Glas to Ki! We got the brig rooms ready!"

"Understood! Satomi-chan, activate weapons filters! Beam the Klingons there!"

"Energizing, Onii-sama!" Chitose Satomi called back . . .

* * *

Regulating Flats . . .

The sounds of materialisers echoed through this part of the ship as Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Jacques Beaulieu stepped out of his office to join Don Glas in the cross-deck hallway that connected the remainder of this section of the ship with _Haida_'s two dozen temporary prison cells. "How many have we got incoming, Don?" he asked as he watched a woman in dark grey battle armour appear in one cell.

"Baker's dozen, Chief," Glas replied with a smirk as the sounds of groans and shocked gasps echoed from the cells; even if there were energy barriers that would keep the now-unarmed Klingons - thanks to the materialiser's weapons-buffer system; another idea Tsukihana had taken from _Star Trek_ - from trying to race out and escape, sound wasn't blocked. "Lucky for us that garbage scow the main guns gutted out was the same size as that twerp Kruge's ship Captain Kirk and his crew captured in _The Search for Spock_."

"WHERE ARE WE?"

Both men looked as the woman the coxswain had seen beamed in stood up and came as close as she could to the energy barrier blocking her from escaping; she obviously had been quick to sense where she was and it clearly showed on her face. "Ma'am, you're aboard Her Majesty's Canadian Starship _Haida_, a warship in the Royal Canadian Navy and flagship of the United Nations Earth Defence Force," CPO1 Beaulieu stated before he smirked. "In our dimension in the year 2010; I have no idea how you would say it in your systems, by the way. Until such time as General Dujduy of Klingon Imperial Intelligence - she had inserted herself into your crew as a mole, so I heard - has decided on your fate, you'll be our guests for the time being." As a dozen voices howled in shock on hearing they had been betrayed by one of their own, he then added, "Get comfortable and enjoy the heat; you'll be probably heading to that ice planet Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy were marooned some decades ago in your timeline when this is all over."

_That_ statement had all the Klingons gaping in shock. "Didn't know you were a Trekker, Chief," Glas said as he stared in appreciation at the coxswain.

"I'm not, but I think I'll watch a few episodes when we get back home," Bealieu replied as many of the prisoners began to howl and snarl at what had just been revealed about the woman they all knew as "Duy'ij."

The military police warrant officer laughed, and then perked on hearing the turbolift doors open and footfalls herald the arrival of three tōshi from Seito, all with weapons at the ready. "Any problems, Warrant?" Seki Haneko asked as many of the Klingons gaped at the Reienkyo in her hands, not to mention the Jōhachi-dabō in Haru Asumi's.

"No, ma'am! We just got them and made them quite aware of what's going on," Glas replied. "How's the evacuation from _Enterprise_?"

"We got all their wounded, plus we're beaming out people from the secondary hull before her warp core goes," Asumi reported. "Don't say anything - especially to Sonami! - but Captain Kirk got hurt when he was trying to help people get out of the impulse drive chamber on _Enterprise_'s primary hull. He's in Sick Bay right . . .!"

"_**WHAT? IMPOSSIBLE!**_"

They spun around to stare at a wide-eyed Lursa. "What is so impossible, Lady Lursa?" Kumomi said as she walked over to "gaze" intently into Lursa's dark eyes with her own closed orbs, which made the Klingon woman shudder.

"That _petaQ_ Kirk died eighty years ago!" Lursa then snarled with a touch of fear in her voice; those who normally held a pro-Romulan viewpoint in the Klingon Empire loathed even the mere _mention_ of James Tiberius Kirk.

"Oh!" the silver-haired Seito sophomore asked as her eyebrow arched, and then a smirk crossed her face. "When he was your guest aboard the _qawJa'roD_, didn't Soran-sensei tell you of what happens when someone is absorbed into the Nexus?"

"How do you know all these things?" B'Etor demanded from the cell next door. "Are you sorcerers? At least you're armed decently even if you ARE human . . .!"

"Warrant Officer Glas?"

Everyone turned to _Haida_'s coxswain. "Yes, Chief?" Glas asked.

"Have copies of _Generations_ piped into their cell monitors," CPO1 Beaulieu then said before he gazed on Lursa and B'Etor. "I suggest, ladies and gentlemen, that when the show plays on your monitor screens, you especially watch what MIGHT have happened to you all hadn't we been in your universe. It might teach you something."

And with that, he headed back to his office . . .

* * *

Materialiser Room Six, that moment . . .

"Ladies and gentlemen, please clear the pad! We may have others coming in!"

"Appreciated, Seaman Fujikawa!" Robin Lefler said to Fujikawa Satsumi as the crowd of civilians streamed off the materialiser pad. "Everyone, into the corridor!"

The small group of children and adults in civilian clothes moved to follow the engineering lieutenant out of the materialiser room, they finding themselves in a wide corridor that was now partially filled with a half-dozen people in Canadian naval combat dress, all wearing _Haida_ ship's badges and trade badges bearing a golden lyre on their upper arm sleeves. All of them also wore white armbands with the symbol of the Red Cross over their left elbows, the words **CASUALTY CLEARANCE TEAM** in English and French under the cross. "Move along, everyone!" Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class (Drum Major) Stuart Colvin, the senior non-commissioned member of the ship's band, called out. "We need you all somewhere else in case we need to get hurt people off the _Enterprise_! Seaman Nanase!"

"Yes, Chief?" Nanase Kasumi asked. She was a brown-eyed, brown-haired woman who was one of _Haida_'s plank owners who elected to become a musician - like her video game namesake from _True Love Story 2_ (the same game that gave inspiration to Hatano Aoi, Fujikawa Satsumi and ten other girls), she had been designed as close as possible to that other Nanase Kasumi, thus she had been programmed to played the flute - on joining the Navy.

"You escort these folks to Cafeteria Three so they can get some grub into them!" the drum major ordered. "Then get your butt back down here . . .!"

"Mommy . . .!"

Everyone fell silent as eyes locked on a dark-haired girl of about four, who was tightly holding a teddy bear close to her as she began to cry. Instantly, Lefler was at the child's side, kneeling down to pick her up. "It's alright, Kelley! It's alright!" she cooed as she held the weeping Kelley Parkyn close to her. "Your mommy's okay! She's in the primary hull; she'll be safe once they get clear of the . . .!"

"Wait!"

People turned as Kakizawa Eri, a guitar player who also sang vocals in the concert band section of _Haida_'s Band Division, came up, offering her arms to take the crying girl from Lefler. "Let me do this, Lieutenant," the blue-eyed girl with the shaggy green hair partially held down by a hair band said. "Hello, little one!"

Lefler blinked as she sensed an aura of pure calm radiating from the Terran-form Avalonian musician, and then she allowed Eri to take Kelley into her arms. As the crying girl began to calm down as she stared wide-eyed at the woman holding her now, Eri fired a knowing look at Kasumi. She nodded as she reached into a pouch tied to her waist and pulled out her flute. On seeing that, all the children gaped as CPO2 Colvin smiled. "Good thinking, Kasumi," he said. "Get these kids to the cafeteria, both of you!"

"Aye-aye, Chief!" Kasumi said with a grin, and then she put flute to lips.

The children all blinked, and then they grinned - even Kelley - as a haunting yet warm aria escaped the silver instrument in the Avalonian's hands. At that moment, Eri then side-slipped her feet as she began to sing, the acoustics of the corridor quickly picking up her voice and making it radiate to everyone within range:

_Sing! Sing! Sing the song they sang  
With us when they sailed away!  
Bring! Bring! Bring them back again  
To these lonely shores one day!_

_We'll be here awaiting their arrival;  
How that moment's going to shine!  
May they ring then in our hearts  
The jubilant bells of _Auld Lang Syne_ . . .!_

The other musicians all grinned as some of the children and the other adult evacuees began to sing the classical (to them) song of _Arrival_, followed by a much-relieved Robin Lefler . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"All personnel clear of the secondary hull!" Data reported. "_N'ventnar_ is in position ahead of us, ready to activate her tractor beam!"

"Begin separation sequence!" Picard ordered.

"Aye, sir!" Sam Lavelle said as he tapped controls.

The dying starship shuddered as the primary hull began to break away from the now-lethally dangerous engineering hull and the smoking wreck that had been her starboard warp nacelle, which was back-feeding energy at a dangerous rate right into her warp core. "We're clear of the secondary hull, Captain," Data stated as he tapped controls. "We cannot raise shields due to lack of power in the primary hull."

"Moving away at one-quarter impulse," Lavelle added.

"_Enterprise_, this is _Haida_!" Michelle Anderson called over. "We have targeting solution on your warp core! You better brace yourselves, folks!"

"_Enterprise_, this is _N'ventnar_!" Tal'Shan B'Krensalh then said. "Locking tractor beam on you now. Cut impulse drive and drift!"

"Impulse drive cut," Lavelle called back as he tapped controls.

The primary hull then slightly shivered as the sounds of a tractor beam locking onto the outer layers of protective metal echoed throughout the bridge . . .

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"_N'ventnar_ pulling _Enterprise_ primary away from the secondary hull. Range between both sections, two kilometres and increasing," Tsukihana reported.

Anderson nodded as she watched the progress of the Romulan warbird. "Concussion missiles, Tubes 8 through 12, match generated bearings and shoot!" she barked.

"Missiles firing!" PO2 John Hopkins said as he tapped a control . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

As the crew on the bridge watched in morbid fascination, four long missiles leapt out of their launch tubes on the upper part of _Haida_'s main hull, racing out at speeds much faster than photon torpedoes as they spread in the cardinal directions to form a four-way enveloping attack on the smouldering and shuddering secondary hull. "All personnel, brace for shock impact!" Picard yelled out as the four concussion missiles then swung inward to finish their short attack run on their target.

People grabbed onto something . . .

. . . as all four concussion missiles - doing as they were designed to do - detonated the first of four successive explosive blasts that radiated a tight cone of matter-shattering energy directly against the _Enterprise_'s abandoned engineering hull. In three successive seconds, the three other explosive blasts in each missile had erupted, sending shockwaves of force to slam hard into the already-damaged hull section. The intact sections of the warp nacelles were blasted inward to slam into each other and explode as the secondary hull itself was virtually crushed from both above and below, top and bottom. That caused the anti-matter storage units to fail all at once, causing them to erupt out. However - as Tsukihana had planned right from the start - the collision of _Enterprise_'s anti-matter fuel (which was anti-hydrogen, the exact counterpart of the lightest known atom in the universe) with the blast waves of exploding hydrogen-charged bauximite (a transuranium element like mesonium, with an atomic mass somewhat close to artificial neutronium) ensured that the lethal detonation would not radiate out in every direction, especially towards the primary hull now ten kilometres away and pulling clear quite quickly.

However . . .

The forward part of the interconnecting pylon that had held _Enterprise_'s two halves together - which had been blasted clear of the remainder of the hull long before the anti-matter could disintegrate it into harmless fragments - was flung away at high speeds right for the surviving elements of the ship and the Romulan warbird towing her. Before anyone on either _Enterprise_ or _N'ventnar_ could react, the fifty-metre chunk of twisted metal and ruptured decks - which ALSO included the fusion reactors for the main impulse drive system once located right above the secondary hull and main engineering! - soared over the fantail of the primary hull at a range of a kilometre right over the bridge and passed right into _N'ventnar_'s tractor beam.

Being as it was a much lighter mass than what the warbird was trying to tow, said hull fragment was yanked up right into _N'ventnar_'s outer deflector shields!

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Oh, my God!" Douglas Tremblay gasped.

As the operations room crew watched in horrified disbelief, the large hull fragment that had slammed into _N'ventnar_'s shields exploded, causing the tractor beam to cut off immediately as a force wave slammed out in every direction. Especially down and aft, where the hapless primary hull of _Enterprise_ was located.

The result was inevitable.

The impact caused the motion of that hull section to be directed DOWN . . .!

. . . right for Veridian III's atmosphere.

Suddenly, _Haida_ reared as her secondary drive systems roared to life . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Riker screamed out as people were pitched around and knocked off their feet by the sharp impact from forward and above.

"A section of the secondary hull exploded against _N'ventnar_'s shields and cut the tractor beam!" Worf called back. "The explosive wave knocked us right down into a forty-degree dive directly for the atmosphere of Veridian III!"

"Trying to activate manoeuvring thrusters!" Sam Lavelle called out.

"_Primary stabilisers off-line_," the ship's female-voiced computer - which then, after all the years of listening to it, suddenly made Deanna Troi think of her mother Lwaxana - dutifully announced. "_Engaging secondary systems_."

People braced themselves . . .

. . . and then many screamed as the last surviving intact section of the United Starship _Enterprise_ was hit by another blast wave, this time from the mixed explosions that had forever destroyed the secondary hull several kilometres off the fantail!

* * *

_N'ventnar_ . . .

"CAN WE RECOVER?" Sela screamed out.

"No, Commander!" Tal'Shan said as she tapped controls. "Tractor array was damaged from the force impact! Singularity core is off-line!"

At his station, Taf tapped a control. "_Enterprise_, this is _N'ventnar_! We cannot recover you by tractor beam! Can you recover and avoid atmosphere?"

"Negative! Helm controls are off-line!" Picard replied.

As the crew on the pilotage watched in horror, the oval saucer-shape of _Enterprise_'s command hull began a deep dive right for the atmosphere of the planet below. "Oh, Air and Fire! I beseech Thee, watch over them!" K'Neth breathed out. "They are good warriors, full of _mnhei'sahe_! Let them . . .!"

"Oh, SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT . . .!"

Sela gaped on recognising that voice, and then she turned to stare wide-eyed at her mother. _When did Data learn to swear?_ both thought at the same time . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"CAPTAIN!"

Picard jolted, and then he gaped as Worf turned the view screen aft . . .

. . . to show _Haida_ coming fast and hard towards her, the Canadian starship's heat shields flaring already as she ripped into the upper elements of Veridian III's atmosphere. "What the DEVIL . . .?" the captain exclaimed.

"It appears that Tsukihana has engaged _Haida_'s SAR protocols!"

Eyes spun on Data. "What do you mean?" Riker demanded.

The android was already moving to recalibrate the ship's manoeuvring thruster units to try to slow the descent, plus re-activate what navigation deflectors - which had ALSO been designed to deal with potential crash situations - she have left. "SAR! Search and Rescue! _Haida_'s main computer can be configured to automatically take all control of ship's systems if the operations officer declares a rescue emergency!"

Picard tapped his comm badge. "_Enterprise_ to _Haida_! Michelle! Pull your ship up!" he barked out. "You don't need to do this! We're prepared for this!"

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"_**WHAT THE HELL'S HAPPENING?**_"

"Calm yourself, Michelle! You as well, Jean-Luc!" Hiromi snapped. "Kōgetsuei-dono, status of our approach to take _Enterprise_ under grappling tow!"

"Range to _Enterprise_, six hundred kilometres and closing fast!" Tsukihana said as he and Ayami tapped controls. "_Enterprise_, if your ship hits the surface, the impact force - even if you can get manoeuvring thrusters and navigation deflectors up and working - could possibly kill everyone inside from the shock! We'll come in right above you and snare you with grapping tractors; they're a lot stronger that what you had and can take a high speed snatch-and-pull, even when - _especially_ when! - a damaged ship is in atmosphere! I was inspired by what happened to you all in _Generations_!" As many of the people in the operations room all laughed, the young genius from Chichibu smiled before looking at Hiromi. "Onē-san, range to _Enterprise_, five hundred kilometres!"

"FULL AHEAD ALL ENGINES!" Anderson bellowed out.

"Engines full ahead!" Ayami called out as she tapped controls. "Anderson-taii, ship's SAR protocols will slow the ship down once we're atop _Enterprise_ to match her descent speed!"

"Understood!" the lieutenant called out.

"Ship's ensign deployed!" someone then called out.

People blinked on hearing that shout from the ship's main communications room. Before Anderson could yell down below decks to demand what was going on from the yeoman of signals, someone then said, "Oh, forgot!"

People's eyes turned on Tsukihana, who now looked embarrassed. "He wanted me to program that into the mainmast controls for the ship's yardarms!" he added as he scratched the back of his head.

More laughter echoed through the room . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	11. When Past and Present Collide

_Enterprise_ . . .

"CAPTAIN!"

Picard jerked on hearing that shout, and then he looked up . . .

. . . before he gaped as the twin-pronged bow of _Haida_ appeared in the skylight over the bridge, it soaring from aft forward as the Maple Leaf flag of Canada - underlined by the black **215** of the starship's pendant number - passed by just ahead of Turret C. As more the Canadian starship passed overhead, the captain tapped controls on his left seat arm to open ship-wide communications. "All hands! Standby; _Haida_ is moving to take us in tow! Brace for impact shock against tractor beams!"

"Lateral thrusters restored to nominal operation, Captain!" Data called from his station. "Manoeuvring to stabilise the hull and slow our descent enough so _Haida_'s grappling tractors can lock onto us! Transferring all auxiliary power to the structural integrity field to prevent the ship from being pulled apart!"

"Understood!" Picard called out as he recalled the incident five years ago when - on being called out to rescue none other than Zefram Cochrane himself from the depths of a black hole, where the _Enterprise_ had actually run into her famous namesake from the year 2267, then under Jim Kirk's command - he had directed all power into the ship's structural integrity field to render the Galaxy-class ship as hard as solid neutronium to literally _**ram**_ a Romulan warbird, destroying it in the process. _I should ask Jim about that when this is all over with_, he mused to himself, remembering the automated signal he had sent out from the _Enterprise_-D to the original _Enterprise_ to identify her while they were in the null-time/gravity well of the black hole trying to save Cochrane and the mysterious Companion, both then on a shuttlecraft caught between both ships. _He'll be sad to learn about what happened to Professor Cochrane and his friend, especially given what he had to do to keep the true facts of Assistant Commissioner Hedford's "death" secret!_ The current captain of the _Enterprise_ had been told the facts behind the late inhabitants of an Earth-like planetoid in the Gamma Canaris region of space by none other than Fleet Admiral Shyrae herself a week after Cochrane's death.

"Captain, the bridge is right under _Haida_'s keel mast!" Worf said.

Picard looked up, noting the multi-vane structure . . . with one of the streamlined bulbous pods containing one of her remote deployable sensors now just a couple metres from the outer layer of the transparent aluminum dome over the bridge! "Picard to _Haida_!" he called out after tapping his communications badge. "Do you have to be THAT close, Mister Ki! One bad wind gust and you'll slam right into us!"

"Oh, relax, Taisa-san!" the excited voice of the young genius from Chichibu said over the laughter in the background from some of the other people in _Haida_'s operations room. "We're extending a null-atmosphere bubble over you right now, Data-san! Once that's in place, we'll activate the grappling tractors, then start pulling you up!"

"Understood," Data said as he tapped controls to try to keep _Enterprise_ on an even keel. "Detecting a pressure bubble now forming around the primary hull, extending to five metres from the ship's outer surface." At that point, people were quick to detect that the pushing-back sensation of the atmosphere slamming into _Enterprise_'s bow was gone. "Do you require the lateral thrusters to be deactivated?"

"I'll tell you when!"

"Understood!"

As the clouds now enveloping _Enterprise_ and _Haida_ slowly parted to reveal a lush and hilly forest area now about ten kilometres down, people on the bridge sucked in their breaths, realising that there wasn't much time before the last remnants of the former starship would literally belly-flop right onto the unforgiving ground below. "Time to potential impact with the surface?" Riker demanded.

"If _Haida_ is unable to secure the ship and pull us into orbit, we will hit in approximately three minutes, Commander!" Data called back.

"Oi! I don't wanna hear that!" Tsukihana snapped.

Laughter filled the bridge . . .

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Kōgetsuei-dono, Bunjaku-dono, please . . . with some alacrity!" Hiromi urged.

As everyone in the operations room stared on the two young genius now fighting to not only save their new friends' shipmates but also to prevent themselves from crashing hard onto the surface of Veridian III, Tsukihana and Ayami exchanged looks, and then the latter tapped a control. "Activating forward grappling tractors!"

"Connection with _Enterprise_ made!" the former then replied. "Data-san, you can cut out the lateral thrusters in twenty seconds . . . mark!"

"Understood," the android called back.

"Activating aft grappling tractors!" Ayami called out.

"Connection made!" Tsukihana confirmed.

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"We are caught in tractor beams, two forward and two aft!" Data said as he poised his hand over the control to shut down the thruster systems on the ship.

Picard tapped a control on his chair. "All personnel! Stand by! _Haida_ has us in a grappling tractor lock now! We should be pulling up in a minute!"

"Lateral thrusters shut down!"

The primary hull lurched slightly as the last on-board lifting system was turned off, though there wasn't any violent pitching and yawing thanks to the four beams of bright energy now connecting what was left of _Enterprise_ with _Haida_ . . .

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Damn! It's just like doing a RAS!" PO2 John Hopkins breathed out.

"Yeah! Mixed with a towing evolution in high seas!" Michelle Anderson noted.

Laughter filled the operations room from all the older Navy veterans of life at sea present at the time as they remembered the many times they had done a replenishment at sea with either H.M.C. Ships _Protecteur_ or _Preserver_, the auxiliary oil replenishment vessels assigned to the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets respectively. "Okay!" Ayami called out. "Bring all grappling tractors up to thirty percent."

"Pulling the cleats in, one turn!" Tsukihana said as he tapped controls . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

The ship jerked slightly as Data monitored the situation. "Captain, our rate of descent has now slowed down! Current air speed is 3,700 kilometres per hour; 1,997.84 knots!" He had added the older sea speed measurement for the benefit of the Canadian Navy personnel aboard _Haida_. "Altitude from the keel of the _Calypso_, 9,270 metres above mean sea level; 30,413 feet above mean sea level!"

"We heard that!" Tsukihana called down - literally! - from _Haida_'s operations room. "Okay, no effects on ship's systems and no strain on the hull!"

"Increase grappling tractor pull to fifty percent!" Ayami called out.

"Pulling the cleats in, two turns!"

Laughter in the background as the slight shuddering in the hull dropped down even less. "'Cleats?'" Deanna Troi asked.

Data turned to gaze on the counsellor. "In current situations on the oceans of Earth and other such planets, Counsellor, a cleat is a T-shaped device which allows the captain of a surface vessel to tie her down to the side of a dock. 'Pulling the cleats in' is an old nautical term instructing boatswains to wrap the docking lines around each cam of the cleat to better force tension on the line, thus . . . "

"Data! Shut up!"

The android jolted as he stared wide-eyed at an exasperated Jean-Luc Picard . . . just as a roaring laugh echoed through the link with _Haida_. "I hate to say this to you, Jean-Luc, but you're eight years _**early**_ in saying that!" Hiromi called over.

The captain blinked. "So when was I SUPPOSED to say that!"

"At Commander Riker's and Counsellor Troi's wedding reception!" Douglas Tremblay answered as more of the people on the Canadian starship began to laugh.

Riker and Troi both perked on hearing that. "I'll try to remember that in the future, Captain," Picard said, which caused many of the people on _Enterprise_'s bridge to smirk. "Data, what is our current air speed and altitude?"

"Current altitude from keel of _Calypso_, 8,114 metres above mean sea level; 26,620 feet above mean sea level," the android second officer dutifully reported. "Current air speed is 3,440 kilometres per hour and holding steady; 1,857.45 knots."

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"So can we pull up NOW!" Michelle Anderson asked.

"I think we can, Anderson-taii!" Ayami called back.

"About damn time! Ops to Pilotage!"

"Pilotage!" the voice of PO1 Jason Wruck called back. "I have the helm!"

"Okay, let's start pulling up, PO!" the navigation officer said. "Midships on rudder and elevator! What's the current engine revolutions and thrust speed?"

The senior boatswain now on _Haida_ called back, "Midships rudder and elevator, aye!" A pause as he checked the instruments on his control panel in the ship's pilotage room, located in the very heart of the main hull. "Current ship's revolutions 66.75 on secondaries, main drive down for atmospheric manoeuvre! Ship's thrust half ahead on Secondaries One and Four, slow ahead on Two and Three! Ops, we're descending at an angle of negative 7.7 degrees! Recommend we even the keel!"

"Elevator up five! Even the keel!"

"Elevator up five, aye!"

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

The ship jostled slightly as _Haida_ began to pull her bow up to make her run parallel to the invisible line deep within the planet's surface below that marked her mean sea level; the tips of the mountains passing well below _Enterprise_'s lowermost point themselves averaged a couple thousand metres in height over that limit. "Captain, our rate of descent has stopped!" Data then declared as he tapped controls to divert all auxiliary power that could be spared from the ship's internal reactors to the structural integrity field. "Current altitude is 7,790 metres above mean sea level and holding steady; 25,557 feet. Current air speed is 3,440 kilometres per hour and holding steady; 1,857.45 knots. Increasing power to SIF by thirty percent."

"Overheard that!" Ayami called down from _Haida_. "Increase grappling tractor power to seventy-five percent! Data-san, tell us if there are problems!"

"Pulling the cleats in, five turns!" Tsukihana dutifully announced.

The Federation ship's hull groaned slightly. "Negative damage to internal structure, but this is as far as we can go, Ayami!" Data then warned.

"Understood! Anderson-taii, I think we can start climbing!"

"Alright, then!"

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Ops to Pilotage!"

"Pilotage!"

"Half-ahead on Secondaries Two and Three."

"Half-ahead on Secondaries Two and Three, aye!" A second later, PO1 Wruck called back, "Ops, all secondary engines now showing half-ahead, 66.75 revolutions!"

"Revolutions 75, all secondaries."

"Revolutions 75, all secondaries, aye!" A second later, the senior boatswain called back, "Ops, we're at 75 revolutions at this time!"

"Speed increasing to 5,000 kilometres per hour; 2,700 knots," Data called up from _Enterprise_. "Strain is only slight on ship's main frames!"

Anderson sighed. "Okay, here we go," she whispered before calling out, "Ops to Pilotage!" A pause, and then, "Elevator ten degrees up!"

"Elevator ten up, aye!"

And the Canadian starship began to climb . . .

* * *

_Enterprise_ . . .

"We're climbing!" Sam Lavelle called out.

A wild scream of relief escaped the junior personnel on the bridge at that time as the horizon of Veridian III slowly descended off the main view screen. "What's the status of the ship now, Mister Data!" Picard then called out over the yells.

"Structural integrity field is holding, negative damage to ship's structural main frames or other systems!" the android called back. "Altitude increasing at 570 metres per minute at current speed and direction; 1,870 feet. Data to Anderson," he then said after tapping his communications badge. "Recommend proceeding at 90 revolutions on all secondary engines to achieve escape velocity, then increasing thrust to full ahead."

"Okay, but tell us if there's a problem!" the Canadian officer called back.

"Acknowledged!"

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Pilotage!"

"Pilotage, aye!"

"Revolutions 90, all secondaries."

"Revolutions 90, all secondaries, aye!"

As _Haida_ slightly lurched as the multiple fly-wheels around the core exhaust of each drive system spun faster to force more energy through the magnetic tunnels they created in the exhaust cores to push the starship even further ahead, Michelle Anderson waited for the confirming call from the pilotage. Before she could call back down, PO1 Wruck called up, "Ops, Pilotage! I show all engines now at 90 revolutions, maintaining half-ahead on thrust! Elevator ten degrees up, rudder amidships!"

The navigation officer nodded. "Full ahead, all secondaries."

She could sense the smile from the boatswain. "Full ahead, aye!"

And with that, the Thunderbird raced for the stars . . .

* * *

_N'ventnar_ . . .

"Commander, LOOK!"

Sela jerked on hearing that shout from Taf, and then she turned . . .

. . . to watch wide-eyed as _Haida_ - with what was left of _Enterprise_ insanely close to the lowest end of her keel mast vanes, she held in position by four tractor beams emitting from the Canadian starship - soared up from the clouds covering Veridian III, the glow from the exhausts of the secondary engines under the main hull quite bright. The whole crew on the pilotage were gaping in awe at the sight of the starship from another dimension calmly pulling the primary hull of the Federation Starfleet's flagship out of the gravity well, clearly unaffected by the fact that she was towing approximately a quarter of her own mass right underneath her away from a planet the size of their own beloved Romulus.

"Oh, Elements . . .!"

Perking on hearing K'Neth call upon the ancient elemental spirits that Romulans had believed in ever since the Exodus from Vulcan two millennia before, the commander walked up to stand beside her weapons officer. While most "modern" Romulans didn't really care to adhere to those beliefs that had seen first light during the Exodus from Vulcan thanks to S'task and the other philosophers that had been the intellectual force behind the migration from their ancestral homeworld during the Reformation era launched by Surak, Sela had long come to tolerate those who possessed such beliefs. After all, people like K'Neth brought the passion they felt towards Them to everything else they did. "Indeed, They were with them today," the commander said with an approving nod.

"Indeed they were, Commander," K'Neth said. "True _mnhei'sahe_ if I ever saw it."

"Yes, young weaponeer," Dujduy said as she slowly pulled herself away from Taf's station to walk over to join them by the pilotage controls. "As I said before when they drew Lursa and B'Etor into their guns. Whoever commands that ship has Klingon blood in her. To risk their ship to save near-strangers like that . . . "

"AND to fly her war ensign, even in space."

Eyes turned to Tal'Shan, and then they looked on the image of _Haida_. Sure enough, a mostly white flag embossed with a thin dark blue cross and having the Maple Leaf Flag of the Dominion of Canada in the canton was flying from the aft upper mast, the large spread of soft transparent aluminum-coated fabric still fluttering even in the near-vacuum of space over Veridian III thanks to the motion of the ship's hull underneath it. "Odd," Dujduy then said. "According to what I learned, when they stopped flying the ensign of their former masters in Britain, the warriors of Canada's surface navy only flew their national flag on their ensign staffs." She then gazed on Natasha Yar. "It almost looks like YOUR service's war ensign."

"Save for the cross being dark blue instead of red," the Tokzhetoan Navy captain said. "I wonder what persuaded them to change the ensign ar- . . . "

"Commander!"

Eyes locked on the centurion at the sensory station. "Report," Sela ordered.

"Federation starship has come out of warp at the edge of the system and is now approaching us," the younger officer stated. "Soyuz-class border patrol frigate. Most likely, the U.S.S. _Bozeman_ under Captain Morgan Bateson."

"Ah, Kozara's old friend from the Typhon Expanse," Dujduy said with a smirk on her face as she recalled the handsome bearded commander of one of Starfleet's old border cutters. "He's as much of a pirate as Kozara himself!"

Chuckles from most of the crew of the pilotage . . .

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Canadian starship _Haida_, this is Federation border cutter _Bozeman_," Morgan Bateson - who in Michelle Anderson's eyes DID look a lot like the actor that had portrayed him in the episode "Cause and Effect," Kelsey Grammer; while she was not a Trekker, she had been a long time fan of _Cheers_ and the sequel series _Frasier_ - said as his image appeared on the main view screen in the operations room. "Please come in."

Hiromi tapped a control. "My dear Captain Bateson," she called back. "This is Moroboshi Hiromi, director of the United Nations Earth Defence Force aboard Her Majesty's Canadian Starship _Haida_. Welcome to the Veridian system, good sir. We've been a little busy here . . . as you'll probably notice from the debris field, not to mention what is left of the _Enterprise_ being towed by us at this time."

He chuckled. "When Captain Picard told me how romantic your speech is, Director Moroboshi, I thought he was joking," Bateson said before he sobered. "Casualties?"

"No fatalities; the Heavens were truly at our side in this incident even if _Enterprise_'s whole secondary hull will have to be replaced. But there are many wounded. Some still aboard _Enterprise_ under the good Doctor Crusher's care, some here aboard _Haida_ under the care of our own Surgeon Commander Cooper."

"So we noticed," he stated with a nod to his first officer, Gabe Bush. "And thank God no one died. What of the Klingons that were allied with Soran?" The commander of Starfleet's most well-known time-displacement victim had received continuous updates from Starbase 105 considering what was happening with _Enterprise_ and _Haida_ as soon as _Bozeman_ had been forced to make a course correction and Bateson had called in to the local starbase to find out what was going on.

"Currently guests in our brig. As soon as the Lady General Dujduy can summon some friends from Qo'noS to take them off to Rura Penthe, we'll turn them over." She then perked. "Tell me, my dear Lord Captain: Were you ever friends with Jim Kirk?"

Bateson perked. "Admiral Kirk? Yes; we rendezvoused with the original _Enterprise_ when we were on patrol once." He knew - thanks again to the updates from Starbase 105 - that the visitors from another dimension's Canada in the year 2010 were quite knowledgeable about recent Federation history, though the "how" had not been properly explained to him. "Why? He died almost eight decades ago."

Hiromi sighed. "You best come aboard, Captain. You need to know some things."

He stared at her . . .

* * *

U.S.S. _Bozeman_ Captain's Log, Stardate 48632.7,_  
Having met up with H.M.C.S. _Haida_ and what is left of U.S.S. _Enterprise_ - along with the Romulan warbird _N'ventnar_, who are maintaining a neutral stance towards ourselves at this time - over Veridian III, I beamed aboard the ship from another dimension with all the medical personnel I could spare. There, I learned that we were _not_ the only ones to have been transported through a temporal anomaly into the Twenty-fourth Century. Though in the case of the person who was just discovered trapped in the mysterious Nexus for seventy-eight years, his survival chances are slim . . ._

* * *

_Haida_, Sick Bay Flats . . .

"Lal, what happened?"

The dark-haired female android sniffed back the tears she had been shedding on-and-off since she had been transported aboard _Haida_ along with the people who had been in the starboard impulse drive control room or close by to it when a disruptor bolt from _qawJa'roD_ caused one of the reactors to explode, nearly killing six engineers and almost coming close to venting two dozen civilian dependants into space when the hull near the engines ruptured. "Captain Kirk was trying to help pull people from the impulse engine control chamber when he noticed an overhead beam about to collapse on Mister Tarses," she said as she gazed on Jean-Luc Picard, Morgan Bateson, Michelle Anderson and Moroboshi Hiromi, all of whom were sitting in the small lounge set up in Sick Bay Flats to act as a waiting room for people wanting to see any of the doctors, nurses, physician assistants or medical technicians inside. "He managed to get Mister Tarses clear and safe, but didn't dodge clear in time before the beam crushed his spine and badly damaged his rib cage." She looked down. "I pulled the beam off him, but . . . " A moan escaped her. "I don't believe he can be restored to full function!"

Picard sighed, and then he stared at Simon Tarses, who was now seated beside Lal. The dark-haired part-Romulan medical technician - he was now a second-class petty officer undergoing nursing assistant training, his career having been saved from the revelations of the truth of his ancestry unleashed by the "drumhead" trial forced on him by retired Rear Admiral Norah Satie four years before in the wake of an attempted act of sabotage aboard the _Enterprise_ - was taking a break from dealing with the casualties he helped rescue from the impulse drive control room. "What's Captain Kirk's status at this time, Mister Tarses?"

"He's in full-body suspended animation, sir," the young medical technician - his uniform having been augmented with a white band bearing the symbol of the Red Cross on it so that he could be readily identified as a medical serviceman by the Canadian medics aboard _Haida_ - reported, his voice shallow with both pain and exhaustion; it had been a hectic four hours for him, both on his own ship and here. "The wounds are just too great for him, Captain. Even if the spine wasn't damaged, he could either bleed out from the shredded arteries and veins or drown in his own blood thanks to the damage to the lungs. Doctor Cooper put him in there right away to keep him safe while she helped with the less serious wounds." A sigh. "If he survives, it'll take him _months_ to recover from that level of injury, even with _our_ technology."

"What about ours?" Anderson asked.

Tarses looked down. "It's the same situation Doctor Cooper ran into with you after you came here, ma'am. If Captain Kirk was from your universe, all she could offer . . . "

"Is a body-swap," Hiromi finished.

"Yes, Director."

People's heads bowed down. "We can't let a good man like the admiral die like that," Bateson said. "He's in the same situation now as Fleet Captain Pike was before he was taken to Talos IV in 'Sixty-seven." By that, he meant the year 2267; even now, some years after he and his crew had transitioned to the twenty-four century, he still often believed he was back in the era of his original service in Starfleet. Not to mention his referring to Jim Kirk as an admiral; the legendary captain of the original _Enterprise_ and the later _Enterprise_-A had been finally demoted to his preferred rank of service in 2286, years after _Bozeman_ had disappeared into the Typhon Expanse.

Picard breathed out. "If only Ambassador Spock was here."

People gazed on him. "Why do you say that, sir?" Anderson asked.

"Well, with all his immediate relatives either dead or nowhere close by to come here to decide what to do with him, the ambassador - not to mention Admiral McCoy, Captain Scott, Admiral Uhura, President Sulu and Grand Admiral Chekov - are, in effect, the captain's only true next-of-kin," Picard stated. "I don't know what the situation is on Romulus now concerning the group the ambassador is with at this time, so I don't know if I can ask Sela to go back there . . . "

"That won't be of any concern, Captain."

Everyone turned, and then Picard smiled as Sela came up to join them, having been escorted there by Henrietta Croce. Along with her was a visibly recovering Dujduy, who herself was accompanied by Worf. "Thank you, Guardsman Croce, Mister Worf," the captain of the _Enterprise_ said with a nod before looking at Natasha Yar's daughter. "I trust there wasn't damage done to the _N'ventnar_ when that hull fragment hit you."

"No real damage, but the singularity core took an hour to property restore itself," Sela stated with a smile. "I've already signalled Romulus concerning this incident. Praetor Narviat is friends with a contemporary of Ambassador Spock, Commander-General Liviana Charvanek. She will be transporting the ambassador here on her own ship; they should arrive within a few hours so he can meet with his friend."

"How badly is Kirk hurt?" Dujduy asked.

Picard breathed out. "It's potentially fatal, General. Crushed ribs, torn arteries and punctured lungs, not to mentioned his spinal column severed in several places. His recovery - if possible - will be long."

Dujduy's eyes flared. "So you'll confine the poor man into a chair like you did Christopher Pike, Picard!" she snarled. "No! A thousand times NO! A warrior like Kirk doesn't deserve that sort of suffering! Even Spock and the others who once served under him would agree with me on that!" She shuddered before taking a deep breath, and then relaxed herself. "Apologies, Captain. I realise you wish to help him, but I ask you for a moment to gaze on Captain Bateson here!" She indicated _Bozeman_'s captain with a wave of her hand. "They were born in a different time. They were prepared - far more than those of you in this day and age - to lay down their lives to fight for what they believe in! If you do something like THAT to Kirk, you'll destroy the man! And after all he's been through - especially the loss of his only son thanks to that _petaQ_ Kruge over the Genesis planet years ago, to say ANYTHING of the betrayal that _qoSqa'rIy_ Finnegan and his fools did unto him after Khitomer! - he doesn't deserve THAT!"

"No, he does not, General!" Picard said as he glared intently at her. "But we have believed - even people like Jim and Morgan ALWAYS have believed! - that when there is life, there is always _**hope**_! You cannot demand we forget THAT!"

He then blinked as an approving smile then crossed the Klingon-form Questor's face. "Good," she said. "I'm glad the man who succeeded to Jim's chair finally - the same man who helped put a good man like Gowron onto the Chancellor's chair - is just like him."

Picard stared at her, and then he sighed. "I'm not used to being tested like a freshman in the Academy, General. Especially not these days."

"You will be tested, though," she warned. "If the damage to your ship is deemed too much to be repaired, you'll get a new one. Most likely one of those Sovereign-class ships you're now building. But if Jim recovers and is allowed to return back to service, there may be many who - while totally ignoring all YOU'VE done, Jean-Luc! - would gladly remove you from your post and allow him to take your place."

Surprised by the general's show of support towards his keeping the post of _Enterprise_'s commanding officer even in the face of Jim Kirk's possible return to full active duty, Picard then sighed. "We're not as plagued with politics in the ranks as you are used to on Qo'noS, General. That finally ended with Finnegan's tenure as C-in-C . . . or at least, I _hope_ it ended there." As the others smirked, he added, "I don't believe I need to fear a thing if - and I say _**if**_ - the current _Enterprise_ is declared a loss and a new _Enterprise_ is built." He then smiled. "From what I can tell from the short time I've known the man - not to mention what memories I gained of him from Spock and his father - Jim has his own sense of honour and propriety. He would LOATHE the idea of people playing favourites for his benefit at the cost of another's career. He learned his lesson well both after the V'Ger incident and after his time at the Academy as an instructor right up to the incident with Khan Singh."

"I will tell Shyrae to make sure of that," the general promised.

"I suspect you . . . "

"Riker to Picard."

The captain tapped his comm badge. "Go ahead, Number One."

"Sir, _Bozeman_ has detected the Klingon battleship _Negh'Var_ approaching the system," Riker replied from the bridge of _Enterprise_, which was still active even if she was missing her engineering hull, which was where her warp drive and photon torpedo launchers had been located. "They just signalled us, reporting the presence of Emperor Kahless aboard, along with Dahar Master Kor. His Majesty wishes to know the status of General Dujduy."

"Please pass on my sincerest compliments to His Majesty and Master Kor," Picard replied. "Inform them the general was hurt during the incident, but she is recovering quite nicely, Number One." A glance to Anderson. "Would you be receptive to allow His Majesty and the Dahar Master to come aboard here?" he then asked.

"Well, if they don't mind a more informal side party when His Majesty beams aboard than what we normally put out for royalty," the lieutenant noted. "Or would he prefer to take a shuttle over?"

"The Emperor likes transporters, Lieutenant," Dujduy said. "Unlike a certain Terran doctor I know of . . . " she added in a low voice.

Trying not to smirk at the general's reference to a former _Enterprise_ chief medical officer, Anderson then hummed before she exchanged looks with Hiromi. The latter nodded her agreement, and then the former gazed on Picard. "We'll receive His Majesty in Materialiser Room One."

Picard smiled. "Did you hear that, Number One?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Then make it so."

"Yes, sir!"

The link with _Enterprise_ was cut, and then Picard stared at Simon Tarses and Lal. "Please keep me up to date on Captain Kirk's condition."

"Yes, sir," Tarses said as Lal nodded . . .

* * *

Materialiser Room One, fifteen minutes later . . .

"Pipe the side!"

"Guard detail . . . Royal Salute, PRESENT . . . ARMS!"

The row of boatswains shrilled their calls to pipe the side as the guard detail snapped their C7A2s to the present as the transporter beam brought aboard three people from the just-arrived _Negh'Var_. As Jean-Luc Picard watched as both Michelle Anderson and Jacques Beaulieu saluted the arriving emperor of the Klingons and his companions, he was quick to recognise the third person in Kahless' party beyond the emperor and Master Kor: High Priest Koroth, the man who had been the genius behind the scheme to bring the legendary founder of the modern Klingon state back to life via cloning. Ever since the truth about Kahless had been discovered and revealed, Koroth had been allowed to move to Qo'noS himself from the Boreth Monastery to serve as the emperor's personal spiritual advisor.

"Permission to board this noble ship?" Kahless asked.

Anderson nodded. "Permission is granted, Your Majesty. Welcome aboard."

"Guard detail . . . SHOULDER . . . ARMS!" PO1 Jason Wruck barked.

The guardsmen snapped their rifles back to the shoulder as Kahless stepped off the materialiser pad while the boatswains piped the carry-on. Glancing briefly at the young men and women staring evenly at him with their battle rifles at their side, each tipped with a sharp and gleaming bayonet, the emperor nodded his approval before holding out his hand to Anderson. "An honour to meet you. I assume you are the commander of this ship, young lady?"

Anderson lowered her arm, and then gave his hand a warm squeeze. "Temporarily in command of Her Majesty's Canadian Starship _Haida_, Your Majesty. Lieutenant (Navy) Elaine Michelle Janet Anderson, navigation officer of the ship, at your service."

The visiting Klingons all blinked in surprise. "Where is your captain?" Kor then demanded.

"We were in orbit over Earth in the middle of the Christmas holidays when we got brought to your dimension some days ago, Master Kor. Captain Gamblin was at home with his family at the time. Not to mention most of the crew of the ship."

The just-arrived Klingons all blinked again as they took that in, and then Kahless turned to Dujduy, who had come out from behind the materialiser control station to bow deeply to him. "Is this true, Dujduy!" the emperor demanded as he pointed to Anderson. "This ship was _undermanned_ and _without_ her captain when they stopped those traitors Lursa and B'Etor, not to mention convinced Soran not to murder a world full of innocent people! AND to rescue the _Enterprise_ from crashing on the planet surface!"

"It is the truth, My Emperor," she stated as she gazed respectfully upon him. "Even if the country they serve and the queen they swear loyalty and fidelity to do not demand they plunge into battle as often as we would see proper, they are well-trained . . . and even more so, well-motivated. The Earth of their dimension is surrounded by enemies on almost every quarter; they cannot afford to be otherwise."

"Indeed," Kahless said before he gazed on his host. "The name _Haida_ is known to me, Lieutenant," he stated. "The Thunderbird. The Herald of the Gods. The Death-Bringer who Commands the Heavens to Storm. The One Never to be Angered." He nodded. "Your ship possesses a most auspicious name and crest. Always honour it."

"We're in a class of our own, sir," she said, and then perked as the door opened to reveal a smiling woman in jeans and T-shirt, accompanied by a younger girl in a very pretty yukata. "Ah! Your Majesty, may I present the Director of the Earth Defence Force, Madame Moroboshi Hiromi. One of her strategic aides-de-camp, Mistress Morokuzu Ryōko."

The reborn emperor of the Latter Hàn Dynasty gave the clone of the first emperor of the Klingons a formal fist-in-palm salute, which made the just-arrived visitors from the _Negh'Var_ gape in surprise at such an obvious show of courtesy - a similar type of salute had been used many centuries before on Qo'noS during the time of the original Kahless - to them. "Most Gracious Emperor, may Your Just Rule over Your Noble Subjects be long, fruitful and bring honour and glory to all!" Hiromi then greeted him.

Kahless' dark eyes locked on Hiromi's brown ones, and then he breathed out, "Why do I sense that I am also speaking to a brother - nay, sister! - **_emperor_**!"

"Because in her first life, she WAS an emperor, Most Gracious Majesty," Ryōko said.

He looked down on her, and then his voice caught in his throat for a moment before he whispered, "And now, I behold a _**chancellor**_ in the body of a _**child**_!" As Kor and Koroth gaped wide-eyed at him, Kahless turned to Dujduy. "Did you know of this!"

"I confess, Majesty, I did not!" the general stated, surprised that her emperor was empathic enough to sense THAT from the two visitors from another dimension.

Hiromi then cleared her throat. "Our story, Your Majesty, is rather almost as unique as your own, I confess," she stated before waving them to the door. "While we wait for the good Ambassador Spock to arrive so he could help us ascertain what to do with his own fallen commander, let us proceed to the wardroom. I doubt we'll have any decent fare to satisfy the palate of one used to the foods of noble Qo'noS, but I believe we could replicate some Yehisrite food which might satisfy you."

"You are courteous, my lady," Kahless said . . .

. . . before the intercom whistled. "Bridge to Anderson."

Anderson turned to tap a control at the materialiser station. "Anderson."

"Sorry to bother you, Lieutenant, but sensors just picked up a Federation starship arriving in the system," Takanashi Naoko reported. "You have to come up here to see her for yourself, ma'am. In fact, you ALL better come up here!"

Hiromi hummed, and then she smirked as she leaned over to wrap one of her arms around one of Kahless'. "Come, Majesty! Naoko-chan wouldn't do something like that without just cause! Let us go see what now fascinates her! Come!"

Surprised by that assertion - yet clearly feeling safe thanks to the amused tone in his host's voice - the Klingon emperor nodded . . .

* * *

The bridge, moments later . . .

"You better have a good explanation for this, Lieutenant!"

Naoko smiled like a cat that had just caught the canary to Anderson before she turned to bow politely to Kahless. "Welcome to the bridge, Your Majesty." A nod to Kor and Koroth. "Thoughtmaster-prime Kor. Elder Koroth." She then turned to Hatano Aoi, who was at one of the stations on the wide pilotage platform that was only manned whenever _Haida_ was not at battle stations. "Seaman Hatano, would you please report to the Officer of the Watch about contact Blackbird Six?"

Aoi smirked. "Approaching on course 279 mark 15, speed Warp 8 until she made system-fall and began approach to the planet," she stated before gazing on the visiting Klingons and Jean-Luc Picard. "Constitution-class starship. Modified."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"_Constitution_-class . . .?" Picard blurted out before catching himself. "_Mon Dieu_ . . .!"

Laughter then exploded from both Kor and Dujduy. "Scott!" the former roared out. "Why that . . .!" More laughter. "Show us, good lady! Let us see her!"

Aoi smiled as she tapped a control . . .

. . . which flicked on the main view screen above the bridge windows to reveal a direct view of an approaching starship that hadn't left her storage dockyard in almost eight decades, the light of the Veridian sun showing off her name and registry on the upper forward primary hull:

U.S.S. _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-A.

"Officer of the Watch!"

Anderson looked over to CPO2 Nathan Cotter, who was standing by the bridge communications control station. "What's the problem, Yeoman?"

"The _Enterprise_-A is signalling us."

The lieutenant smiled. "Open channel, visual."

"Aye, ma'am!"

The image melted into the circular bridge of Jim Kirk's last command, revealing two familar people present among a proper bridge watch, one in the captain's chair and the other at the navigator officer's post to starboard forward of the centre seat. "Scott! McCoy!" Kor roared out.

"Damn straight it's us, Kor!" the cracking, accent-laden voice of Admiral (retired) Leonard H. McCoy burst from ancient yet still living lips as the view of the _Enterprise_-A's bridge focused directly on him. "You honestly didn't think that we WOULDN'T have learned about Jim being found, ALIVE of all things!"

Laughter escaped many of the bridge crew on hearing that. Gazing on the aged surgeon, Kahless nodded in approval. "Truly, this Kirk must indeed be a mighty warrior to summon such loyal friends to his side in his time of need!" he declared.

McCoy gazed at him, his pale blue eyes flashing. "Now, you be quiet, boy! It's nice of you to come out to help a very beautiful lady like Dujduy there save the galaxy - it's a gentlemanly thing to do, in fact! - but this is NO damned time for useless histrionics!" he snapped, which made the other Klingons save Dujduy gape in shock at his apparent show of disrespect. "I need to talk to you, Captain!" he then said as he focused his eyes on Jean-Luc Picard. "Didn't that android that serves as your second officer tell you what I told him years ago!"

"Tell me what?" Picard demanded.

"That you treat your _Enterprise_ like a lady! She will always bring you home!" The admiral wagged his finger at Picard. "_**You didn't do that!**_ Now LOOK what happened!"

"Doctor McCoy! I'm sure Captain Picard can explain what happened," the soothing voice of one Captain Montgomery Scott then said.

"Oh, you hush, Scotty! Now tell me what's wrong with Jim, boy!"

As Picard sighed before he began to explain what he had learned from Simon Tarses, Dujduy moved to squeeze Kahless' shoulder. "Do not be angry at the noble doctor, My Emperor. You have obviously been accorded a most rare privilege."

He stared wide-eyed at her. "How so?"

"Because - as Commander-General Liviana Charvanek once told me about him - whenever Leonard McCoy RANTS at someone, that person at the receiving end has truthfully earned his _**respect**_!"

Kahless blinked, and then he chuckled. "Does he have Klingon blood in him?" he then asked, keeping his voice down so as to not interrupt Picard and McCoy.

"Nay, Majesty! But wait until I tell you of his family and the services they did to the crew of a valiant man named Krenn," she said before moving to explain . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	12. The Crossing Into the Fold

_Haida_, the main observation lounge . . .

"It is my fault, my friends . . . all my fault . . . "

Hearing that from the young woman seated alone in the middle of the lounge located on the forward upper deck of the main hull behind Turret B and ahead of the upper forward superstructure, Deanna Troi could only wince as she did her best to firm up her own mental shields from the waves of shame and misery now escaping Inada Mizuho. As she watched both Etō Megumi and Minami Kaori try to comfort their beloved friend, the counsellor tried not to sigh before she gazed on Yamaguchi Seina, one of _Haida_'s stewards who worked in the senior officer's pantry/mini-kitchen. "How long?"

"Since they were transferred here just before all the fun started," the grey-eyed tomboy with the shaggy brown hair with bangs flowing over her forehead and even partway across her cheeks stated. "She wanted all her friends to be safe, but didn't want to deny them the chance to go rescue those of their friends who still need bodies to inhabit." A shake of the head. "I've tried everything I could to make her see that she wasn't at fault because she didn't understand the Staff's full capabilities, but . . . " A sigh. "Even if I am empathic, Sensei, I'm not a trained healer like you."

Troi nodded. The remarkable rescue of _Enterprise_'s primary hull by _Haida_ – added onto the fact that no one had died in the battle against the _qawJa'roD_ even if there were some severe injuries, Jim Kirk being the most seriously wounded of all the people who had been aboard at the time – ensured that the amount of emotional trauma cases that might have erupted in the starship's crew had been considerably decreased. To better guard against lurking cases that might creep up in the near future, _Enterprise_'s contingent of children and adult civilian dependants were – with permission given by Moroboshi Hiromi and Michelle Anderson – beamed en masse aboard _Haida_ so they could be cared for by the ship's Avalonian plank-owners and those off-duty ship's personnel who could spare time. In the meantime, the Federation starship's crew could fully concentrate on making what repairs could be made to what was left of their ship, not to mention get the injured healed or on the road to recovery. As she wasn't really needed aboard _Enterprise_ for that task, the counsellor came to _Haida_ . . . and had immediately sensed the cauldron of emotions emitting from the area of the main observation lounge.

"How is she?"

Both turned as Guinan came up to join them. "Not good," Seina stated. "But her friends are here and we'll be going to the universe of their birth to get their other friends as soon as you people are safe and everyone is back on their feet again."

"Well, with McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov here and Spock to come soon, Captain Kirk should be alright," Guinan said as she gazed up and left as she watched the _Enterprise_-A swing around to assume escort formation off _Haida_'s port bow, with _Bozeman_ to starboard and the _Negh'Var_ and the _N'ventnar_ trailing the Canadian starship on both sides.

"Are they really here!"

They turned to see a wide-eyed Megumi come up to join them. "Yeah, it's really them, Megumi," Guinan said with a nod. "Looking for autographs?" The El-Aurian had been stunned when the former Shiroiwa Junior High School senior had charged right into Ten Forward shortly after she had been extracted from the Nexus, an autograph book provided from _Haida_'s ship store and pen in hand, asking for her signature. Of course, after she got over the shock, Guinan then had to admit it had been very nice to meet a "fan."

"What do you think?" the hard-core Trekker from another universe's Kagawa Prefecture – the town of Shiroiwa did not exist in _Haida_'s home universe – asked.

All of them laughed, and then Guinan looked over at Mizuho, who was now being hugged by Kaori. "She's really taking it hard," the bartender stated.

Megumi looked back, and then she shrugged. "She often gets into these moods, especially when she feels she's not done enough to convince people that what she knows is right." She gazed on Guinan. "Like trying to tell Noriko-chan, Mitsuko and the others that we wouldn't be sent back to our birth universe by Hiromi-sempai."

"How are you feeling, Megumi?" Troi asked.

A sigh. "I'm happy. We're getting there. As soon as we get to where the _Freedom_ is now and tell the others the truth – plus get all the guys back on their feet – we'll be home free and laughing." Noting Troi's curious look, Megumi added, "That's the nickname we gave the Niphentaxian battlewagon the others seized to go back to our universe to bomb the shit out of the Greater East Asia Republic while they were getting the DNA samples for the guys who were forced through _The Program_ for the Staff to use to make their new bodies. Don't know her real name; don't really care, either."

"But what about you personally? Especially with your relationship with Mitsuko?" Troi emphasised. "I took a chance to read the manga, Megumi. She _killed_ you, remember?"

"And I _forgave_ her at the end, Sensei!" the younger woman insisted. "If you read the manga, you know what Mitsuko's been through already."

Troi blinked, and then she nodded; she didn't envy what the psychologists and healers back in _Haida_'s home universe would have to face when they moved to deal with the after-effects years of voluntary prostitution – which had started with a callous act of _child-rape_ of all things! – had left on one Sōma Mitsuko. "You love her."

"I would bond with her, too," Megumi said. "Oh, sure, for the first month or so after we woke up on the factory, I was scared spitless of her. So were the other girls she had killed while we were on Oki-shima: Yoshimi-chan and Takako-chan. But then we realised - especially when we started using the Staff to get the souls of the other girls who were made to participate in _The Program_ since 1947 - that was the name of the 'game' we got forced into. Either play to survive or get ready to die. _Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam_!" she then spat out in _tlhIngan Hol_ with the barest trace of her native accent, and then she added, "Hail, Caesar! We who are about to die, salute you!"

"I personally doubt even the Klingons would approve of something like _The Program_," Guinan stated as she gave the young girl a sympathetic look.

"We certainly don't!" Seina snarled.

"So what happened afterward?" Troi then asked.

Megumi sighed as she waved the others with her to a nearby lounge set close to the stand of flags that had remained here ever since the first Canadian military officers had stepped aboard _Haida_ shortly after she had come to Earth for the first time. "Well, after we started to really think about what we went through – and talked it over with all the other girls we were pulling through the _Te'a_ with the Staff as we were learning their stories – I started to see Mitsuko in a different light. Especially when we all learned what had happened to her thanks to her stepdad and her mom." As the others nodded, she added, "She didn't want to be seen as a failure, Sensei. She initially saw being raped by her stepdad as having failed in upholding her father's faith in her. All the time she was letting guys have sex with her, she was hoping, wishing that one day, her father would come back and take her away from that hell."

She held up her right ring finger, which had a beautiful gold band on it topped with a sparkling diamond shaped like an angel. "This is a nicer version of a toy ring Mitsuko always wanted, the Magical Emily Ring. Mizuho made these for both of us with the Staff when Mitsuko and I became lovers. Back when her father was living with her, Mitsuko always wanted the ring. He finally got it for her . . . " She closed her eyes. "The day he left home and her mother started shacking up with the man who would become her stepdad. Within a week, in fact!" Megumi gazed on the ring. "For all those years, deep in her heart, Mitsuko dreamt of the day her daddy would come and take her somewhere safe. But then _The Program_ happened . . . " She then waved around her. "And we wound up in Sempai's universe, on the bioroid factory, about to be turned into living sex slaves for a creep who was crazy enough to make even old Kamon himself piss his pants. If it wasn't for Mizuho seizing the Staff . . . "

"You still would have been freed," Seina stated. "Yes, Ataru-oniisama was there, but so were Thoughtmistress-prime Negako, Hiromi-onēsama and Tariko-onēsama. And while Tariko-onēsama was effectively Ataru-oniisama in the depths of her heart and soul, Hiromi-onēsama and the Thoughtmistress-prime were total unknowns to him. I don't think he would have lasted long against Onē-sama's sister, even with the Staff."

Megumi considered that, and then she nodded. "Pity it didn't happen that way," she lamented. "We might now be settling down and starting our lives up again instead of spending months on the factory or the _Freedom_, scared for our lives and wondering what was going to happen to us." A shrug. "Mizuho told us to contact Sempai time and time again, but . . . " She shook her head. "None of us could bring ourselves . . . "

"To fully trust Hiromi," Troi finished.

"Hai."

"So what'll happen when you get back to where you were born?" Guinan asked.

A neutral look crossed the young girl's face as she gazed on the bartender. "We get the guys back on their feet – either on the _Freedom_ or on the bioroid factory back in our 'real' home dimension now – and make damn sure the government that made us try to kill each other doesn't get away with that ever again," she said in a dead voice.

"Is that a wise idea?" Troi wondered.

Megumi stared at her, shocked at what sounded to her to be a clearly callous suggestion . . . and then she relaxed as she realised what the counsellor was talking about. "The Prime Directive, you mean," she then mused.

"You will have a horrendous technological advantage over this 'Greater East Asia Republic' when you get there. If not with the _Freedom_ alone, then definitely with _Haida_ joining you. You can certainly render them totally helpless if you wanted to do just that. Destroy their military, destroy their government and allow the Japan that should have developed after the Second World War to be born." Troi then sighed. "But what would the lesson be in that case? That _aliens_ could swoop down and _impose_ their judgements on other people? What would that do in the long term, Megumi? Especially since you don't know what sort of situation exists around the Earth of your birth." A shrug. "We sometimes don't like what the Prime Directive forces on us, but there is wisdom behind it. You didn't like being forced into a do-or-die situation like _The Program_. Why would you believe others would react differently if you forced _that_ on _them_?"

"Then why not let caste societies into the Federation? Like Bajor was before the Cardassians conquered them?" Megumi countered. "Why set such an arbitrary limit on _that_ scale, Sensei? Do you have the right to tell people who live in that sort of society that they don't have the right to join an alliance of worlds for self-defence and self-improvement because of that? You could actually help caste societies develop into egalitarian ones if you let them into the Federation. Sure, the Prime Directive ultimately means that YOU DON'T IMPOSE YOUR BELIEFS ON OTHER PEOPLES! That means people in caste societies, too. Just like _Noukiios_ is in Sempai's universe, even if Noukiios is also perhaps one of the most advanced societies technologically and culturally in the galaxy! And they're probably the only real allies my Earth has right now! Would you deny _them_ the chance to join with the Federation if they wanted to do so?" A shrug. "I personally think you wouldn't, especially after you learned what a world like Noukiios could offer you."

Troi blinked, and then she smiled. "I don't know the Noukiites, so I really can't judge them on the merits of their ever entering the Federation. If they existed in my universe, of course." A sigh. "Still, you might be right, Megumi. After all, all civilised cultures would abhor what you and your friends were forced through. Especially given that it was also _televised_ for all in Japan to watch it."

"They will be defeated. Never fear about that."

Everyone jolted, then spun around . . .

. . . to see Mizuho standing nearby, with Kaori beside her, keeping a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "How are you feeling, Mizuho?" Troi asked.

A light smile. "Please forgive me, Lady Deanna. There are times the Master forces lessons on me to teach me humility and to make me understand my own mortal limits. This, I fear, is one of those times." Mizuho then gazed on the palm of her right hand. "I feel empty, somehow. I fear the mad lord Gihan's great Staff affected me in ways I could not – and still do not – comprehend. Without it . . . "

"Sounds like you're going through withdrawal."

Eyes locked on Guinan. "Do you think so, Guinan-sama?" Kaori asked.

The El-Aurian nodded. "I've been tending bar for the better part of three hundred years, Kaori. I've seen it many times before. Believe me, I know all the signs."

"She was ultimately getting addicted to the Staff's power, you mean," Megumi said before sparing Mizuho a concerned glance.

"It does seem possible," Troi noted. "I can feel the Staff's sentience, though I have to admit that it's much different than what I'm used to when it comes to sensing sentient beings."

"Aye, Lady Deanna. The Staff is a living thing. And it . . . " Here, Mizuho paused before she moved to sit at an empty chair next to Megumi. Kaori moved to place both her hands on her friend's shoulders while Megumi grasped one of Mizuho's hands. "For so long, it was just a weapon of destruction. And then it touched me . . . " A shudder. "There was a program within it, forced on it by the Guardians who had held onto it ever since it was found drifting in space near the Niphentaxians' home system a couple centuries ago. A program which, if it ever activated, would have wiped out all those true adherents to the Church of Lum on whatever planet the Staff was on at the time." A wry smile. "Were it Phentax Two, it could have killed three BILLION souls. Could you believe such a thing?"

"Sensei's already been through it."

Eyes locked on Megumi. She then blushed. "Kevin Uxbridge and the Husnock," she then stated as she gazed knowingly at the counsellor.

Troi winced. "What happened when you linked with the Staff, Mizuho?" she then asked.

"It was happy, Sensei."

Silence.

"It was HAPPY!" Megumi and Kaori chanted together.

"Aye." Mizuho then blinked on seeing a cup of sencha appear before her. Nodding thanks to Seina – the steward had gone to a nearby drinks dispenser to get the green tea for her – she took the cup and sipped from it. "For the first time ever since the mad Master Gihan built it, the Staff had been asked to help CREATE something instead of destroy something. Or in our case, help RE-CREATE something. Namely, our lives. So when Izumi and Noriko urged me to start bringing the other _Program_ victims through the veil of the _Te'a_ to allow them to live again, the Staff was quite eager to do that. Not to mention allow us all the chance to board the _Freedom_ so we didn't feel confined to just the gestation towers where our lives were restored. And when the boys' souls were brought over, but then the Staff realised it didn't have the ability to give them their lives back as well due to the restrictions on the gestation chambers, it was . . . ashamed."

"'Ashamed?'" Guinan asked.

Mizuho gazed at her. "It could not continue to create."

The others nodded. "But you didn't have full control over it, sister," Seina then warned. "Hence, what happened when _Freedom_ went to your universe to get the DNA for all your friends and our coming here, with you three going to the Nexus."

Mizuho stared at her, and then she nodded. "And that was my fault . . . "

"But it still did good."

She gazed up at Kaori. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember the movie?" the bespectacled teen asked. "If _Haida_ wasn't here, the _Enterprise_'s primary hull would have crashed on the planet below and Kirk-taisa would have been killed when he tried to help Picard-taisa stop Soran-sensei!"

"Atop that, Lal-chan would STILL be deactivated and Guinan-sama and all the other survivors from the _Lakul_ would still have split souls!" Megumi added.

Mizuho blinked, and then she gazed at Guinan for a moment. The bartender nodded to confirm what Megumi had said, which made the would-be warrior-priestess of Ahura Mazdā slowly nod. She then stood, placing the tea she had been offered onto the table. "I . . . need to be alone for a bit. Please excuse me."

She then walked out of the lounge. Troi instantly stood up, but found herself restrained by Megumi. "Don't, Sensei!" she said. "She'll be alright now."

"She won't get farther than twenty metres from any of the Avalonians aboard the ship, Sensei," Seina added. "They'll keep an eye on her."

The counsellor nodded . . .

* * *

Sick Bay . . .

"Oh, dear God, Jim! You really got into the molasses _this_ time!"

"How bad is it, Leonard?"

Leonard McCoy frowned as he shook his head. "It's the worst I've ever seen him. Much less anyone else, even Spock after he pulled that stunt with the ship's warp core when we were trying to get out of the Mutara Nebula." Taking a moment to gaze on the detailed scan of his former captain, he then turned to smile in assurance at Nyota Uhura, who had joined both him and Montgomery Scott on the trip with the _Enterprise_-A out from Earth along with two other surviving senior crew, former United Federation of Planets President Hikaru Sulu and retired Starfleet Grand Admiral Pavel Andreievich Chekov. Save for Scott, everyone was relaxing in the private office of _Haida_'s chief medical officer. "He's alive, but I think he's in the same boat as that poor boy Carl Remington was when we ran into that Klingon border patrol the second year of our first mission."

The admiral in charge of data collection operations in Starfleet Intelligence blinked, and then she nodded as she recalled that incident. "When Spock's mother was diagnosed with degenerative xenosis. When that lunatic who wanted Sarek for herself almost tried to kill Amanda."

"The very same."

"'Degenerative xenosis?'" Elaine Cooper asked.

McCoy hummed. "You folks are just starting out into space, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, before you go home, I'll get someone to compile all the diseases humans started to acquire ever since Cochrane discovered the warp drive so that you'll have a good idea of what to expect when you get out there," the retired surgeon-general stated. "That regenerative ability of yours is incredible, Doctor Cooper, but Mother Nature has her way of showing anyone that she's the true boss of existence, not poor mortals like us."

"I'm actually having Doctor Crusher do that, sir," Jean-Luc Picard stated.

McCoy perked, and then he nodded. "Good for you, boy!"

The door then opened, revealing a smirking Dujduy. "Are you still sniping at the poor man, Leonard!" the general in charge of Imperial Intelligence asked as she stared intently at him, before she smiled as Uhura came over to embrace her. "Oh, Nyota!" she said as they exchanged kisses on the other's cheek. "What is the matter with you? You've refused us many a time and you STILL haven't gone to _Stovoqor_?"

McCoy, Sulu and Chekov – Scott was now enjoying a tour of _Haida_'s engineering areas with Hakaru Ayami as his guide – all laughed on hearing that as Picard gaped. "You mean you were offered the chance to . . .?" he began to ask.

"Cross Into the Fold?" Uhura finished for him, and then she nodded. "Crossing Into the Fold" was the term used by Questors to indicate the process when one not of their kind became one of their kind, either by direct conversion of the body or by a form of quasi-cloning that would create a "daughter" to which a copy of the "mother's" soul could then be programmed into it. Dujduy was of the former type. "Yes, many times. By Shyrae, Dujduy, Heva and a whole host of other people! Even Roy Pannan on Vulcan offered it right after T'Eris was created from Valeris to apprentice under T'Pau to later take over Spock's clan. I . . . " A shake of her head. "I couldn't live like that, Jean-Luc. Be denied things that are normal for organic females. I had a chance to have a family shortly after I was relieved from commanding the _Hermes_, just like Leonard, Hikaru and Pavel did. Even Jim . . . " A sigh. "Even if he wasn't there to see David grow up under Carol's guidance. Not to mention losing a child he could have had with Miramanee." As the others in the room nodded, the communications officer-turned-intelligence specialist then gazed on her ageless friend from Qo'noS. "Look at her. Eternally beautiful – _strikingly_ beautiful, I should add! – and she cannot have a child, not like organic women could." She then playfully slapped Dujduy in the abdomen. "No wonder you were so happy to hear about Data's child."

"They may be different in body, Nyota, but they are no different in spirit. From me AND you!" Dujduy said, and then she perked as the door opened.

People turned as Kahless was escorted in by Hiromi, they followed by Kor and Koroth. "Ah, Dujduy, there you are!" the Klingon emperor said as she bowed gracefully to him. "I had Kor bring this over as you asked to be done. Kor?"

The Dahar Master bowed before he turned and presented an object to the general with both hands. She took it, and then removed the bloodwine-shaded cloth over it, revealing a silvery globe about the size of an average baseball resting on a folded cloth. On seeing that, the veterans of the _Enterprise_-A all gaped in shock, and then they turned to stare wide-eyed at Dujduy as their minds went back in time . . .

* * *

_Vulcan, north of the Forge__,__ near the site of the Kiln of S'harien (Earth year 2295) . . ._

_ "I cannot thank you enough for doing this, Dujduy."_

_ "Valeris was a confused child, Spock," Dujduy – dressed not in her normal dark battle armour but in simple Vulcan traveller's robes, a hood drawn over her head to mask her from anyone who might view the presence of a Klingon on this world negatively – stated as they stepped into the simple family home that had been built almost two centuries before near the site of the kiln of the most famous of pre-Reformation Vulcan swordsmiths. "Despite all your wise teachings and your work in helping her overcome the pain of what she endured on Nidrus Gamma, such did not leave her. I cannot blame her for feeling the lust for justice that incident forged within her."_

_ "No one was killed save the hostage-takers when the team from the _Ark Royal_ arrived to affect their rescue," Spock mused. "You yourself punished K'Darg for his actions as soon as he returned to Qo'noS. At Admiral Shyrae's personal request." As the Klingon-form Questor gazed in surprise at him, the just-retired Starfleet captain gave her an amused look. "When I was in the initial stages of negotiating with Gorkon, the admiral briefed me of what she had asked you to do in the wake of that incident."_

_ "I was pleased to have assisted her in that matter," Dujduy confessed. "Open battle is one thing. Taking hostages to force political concessions is dishonourable and the act of a coward."_

_ "Spock!"_

_ Both turned as Nyota Uhura came up to them from the guest bedroom. Spock was quick to note the wide-eyed shock on the commander's face. Which was understandable. Even given the vast experience the former members of the original _Enterprise_'s ship's company had gained under the command of Jim Kirk, the reality of what the Questors were and what they represented was quite overwhelming to the unprepared. "I do believe that T'Eris's body has finished developing, General," he stated as he gave Dujduy his patented arched eyebrow that marked profound amusement, something that made Uhura – who was long-versed in reading the Vulcan's many moods – gape at him._

_ "This is not too overwhelming for you, is it, Commander?" Dujduy asked._

_ Uhura blinked again, and then she sighed. "Why keep this secret?"_

_ "The Questors?" Spock asked. At the former communications officer's nod, he closed his eyes. "Think of your reaction to that information, Nyota. Multiply that by the amount of all sentients in the Federation and beyond. Then add what you humans call 'mob mentality' and what such might unleash." As she took that in, he placed a steadying hand on her shoulder, which made her gape once more at him at such a human show of support. "There lies your answer."_

_ "Spock! She's waking up!"_

_ Everyone turned on hearing Leonard McCoy's voice, and then they proceeded into the guest bedroom of Roy Pannan's home. There, on the bed, was a woman that looked like the disgraced lieutenant who had served on _Enterprise_ at the behest of the Federation leaders of the anti-Gorkon conspiracy to ensure that any attempts at saving the reformist Klingon chancellor would be stopped. But there were the differences. Many of them. The hair was now a dark brown with golden highlights, wavy and extending to well past her shoulders. The eyes were blue in lieu of dark brown. The mole that had been under the left side of her lips was gone. And there was a slight change to the bone structure underneath her skin, which shifted the facial muscles and other tissues just enough to make people who might associate this woman with Valeris think twice._

_ Kneeling beside her as she scanned the unmoving woman's body with a specially-modified tricorder was Ky'los Shyrae, who was also dressed in local robes even if the hood was drawn back to allow her Andorian super__-__cranial antennae to not be pressed against her flowing silver hair and disorientate her; even if she was a Questor, she did possess some of the same physiological disadvantages her old race possessed. "She is starting to absorb her new body's programming," the leader of Section 31 stated as she gazed up at Spock, her pale eyes – a by__-__product of her part-Aenar ancestry while she was still an organic – focusing on his. "You will need to mind-meld with her to help her understand her new role in life. She will not accept anyone else within her soul, not even Saavik or any other Vulcan or Vulcan-form Questor. I suggest you move, quickly."_

_ "I will require privacy," he said._

_ Shyrae nodded, and then stood, waving Dujduy and Uhura out of the bedroom, she closing the door behind her. By then, they had been joined by the others who had broken off from their various assignments to come to Spock's aide so he could effectively "save" his latest protégée from the grief and humiliation of being seen as a traitor to the Federation, which had led to three suicide attempts so far while she was incarcerated at the Jaros II penal colony. And a fourth that, in one sense of the term, had succeeded. "To believe that a Vulcan can feel such pain," Hikaru Sulu – he had given his friends the use of _Excelsior_ when they transported Dujduy and Shyrae to Jaros II to obtain what was needed from Valeris to effectively allow her a new life as T'Eris, the future leader of Spock's clan now that T'Pau had indicated she wanted to abdicate the post and pursue private studies at Gol – then asked. "Could this really help her live again?"_

_ "Well, Sorel himself said she was too far gone," McCoy mused. "He was the one that proposed this to Ms. Pannan after he got back from Jaros II after the poor girl tried to kill herself the third time." He then blinked before turning to gaze on Shyrae. "How the devil did she persuade you to go along with it? Much less you?" he then asked as he then gazed on Dujduy. "I know you were Gorkon's biggest supporter, General, so why save a woman that had a hand in ensuring he was killed? Hell, you could've stopped Chang in his tracks if you wanted to . . . "_

_ "I am not as powerful as you think I am, Doctor," the Klingon-form Questor warned, an amused smile crossing her face. "Though I do accept the compliment a gallant man of the noble American South such as you just gave me." As a now-embarrassed McCoy politely bowed to her, the general then took a deep breath. "Yes, I knew Gorkon was right all along about peace with you Federates, even before Praxis was made to gut itself thanks to the _petaQ_ who were running the place, not knowing a damned thing about equipment safety and environmental controls!" As the others nodded, she then sighed. "But our positions in our native societies can sometimes be quite precarious. Even someone like Shyrae here, trying to keep tight leashes on all her agents in Section 31. Especially the ones who rather revel in their power and the lack of oversight by your government." She indicated her Andorian-form "sister" with a wave of her hand. "Do you wish to know how many times I've nearly had to kill myself on vital missions just to win support from potential future members of the High Council? Men like Kang and Koloth, for example, to say anything of that bloodwine-loving Kor?" A sigh. "There are times I feel that Heva is too much of an influence on me!" she then lamented. "She likes those games better than I!"_

_ "She does indeed," Shyrae noted._

_ Both Questors laughed at that. "What's so funny?" a strange voice then asked._

_ People turned as the owner of the home came out of the kitchen, a pitcher of local spring water in one hand and a tray in the other holding some glasses with ice in them. "Oh, the doctor was just lamenting what brought us here today, Roy," Shyrae replied.  
_

_ "Had to give him the facts of life, huh?" Roy Pannan asked with a twinkle in her dark blue eyes as she gazed knowingly at one of her older friends._

_ "Aye."_

_ "Um, excuse me, Ms. Pannan," Pavel Chekov then said. "Did you know . . .?"_

_ "That I look like Colonel Roy Jameston's twin sister?" the shaggy brown-haired, tomboyish Terran-form Questor asked as she gave the _Enterprise_'s former navigation officer a look._

_ He blinked, and then flustered as Dujduy and Shyrae both laughed. "Um, s-sorry . . .!" Chekov said as he tried not to retreat in disorder._

_ Roy shook her head as she placed the tray down on the living room table and moved to pour drinks. "Well, it IS quite the resemblance," McCoy then said as he slipped into "polite Southern gentleman" mode. "I do apologise for Pavel here, ma'am. There are times that – even if he has grown up over the years – he still acts like that wet-nosed ensign I first met when he first got assigned to the _Enterprise_."_

_ "Doctor!" Chekov gasped._

_ More laughter, especially from Uhura and Sulu. "Well, I've heard that statement about me more times than I care to count, even if I _can_ count as accurately as Spock," Roy said as her eyes flashed with an amused twinkle. She then started serving drinks. "Still, much that I don't remember a damned thing what my life was before I was found on the _Sha'ath_ all those years ago, I do admit there _**is**_ a strong chance I could be a certain colonel from Québec that drop-kicked Green and his loons off Earth in 2079. However, ask yourself this: What would happen if my past-life – if I _was_ her, by the way! – was revealed?"_

_ The former _Enterprise_ crewmen gazed on her, surprised to hear something like _that_ from this rather plain-spoken woman, and then Uhura asked, "What happened?"_

_ "You know of the Silence, don't you?" Shyrae asked._

_ "That's the erasing of the genetic memory of how you came to be Questors from the artificial DNA of your predecessors," McCoy stated. "Happened around fifty thousand years ago if what the data packet you sent me was true, ma'am."_

_ "It happened to her specifically, Leonard," a familiar voice then stated from the guest bedroom. "Around the time Colonel Jameston disappeared from Earth."_

_ Roy gazed on Spock, who now stood at the doorway with a wide-eyed yet clearly confused T'Eris. "Oh, my God . . .!" McCoy breathed out before he caught himself, and then he drew out his own tricorder and Feinberger scanner to pass over the newly-woken Vulcan-form Questor; even if T'Eris was effectively a different person from Valeris, the former _Enterprise_ chief medical officer felt responsible for her health and welfare, just like he did towards all his other shipmates, past and present. "Well, how do you feel, young lady? Everything alright with you absorbing your mom's _katra_?"_

_ T'Eris gazed at him, her eyes widening in recognition, and then she looked down as said eyes began to tear. "Why . . .?" she whispered, her voice possessing an odd lilt that Valeris had not possessed in hers. "Why did Mother just . . .?"_

_ "She felt lost and did not trust anyone to help her find her way again, young one," Shyrae stated. "Try as many did, she felt unworthy of such aide, feeling that in her betrayal of her mentor and the failure of the cause she was persuaded to support, she had nothing more to live for. Do not allow that to ever haunt your life."_

_ T'Eris blinked, and then she nodded as she then walked over to Dujduy. Before any of the others could react, she immediately grasped the general's arm and pulled herself as close to the older woman as she could, ignoring the dropped jaws and shocked looks from Spock's Terran shipmates. Finally, McCoy walked over to stand beside Roy, who was gazing sympathetically at the newly-created Questor. "Is that normal?" he whispered.  
_

_ "Duj was the one who created the soul-container from her own blood to bring Valeris' _katra_ here to create her daughter," the Terran-form Questor explained. "A bond – as strong as that of a mother to a daughter here on Vulcan and on other planets with telepathic species on them – has been forged between them." She then perked before gazing on Shyrae. "Oi, Rae! Why don't you go over to Jaros and let Valeris' old bosses learn that! Might make them all die from apoplexy!" A snort. "Spare the taxpayers the expenses of keeping them fed there for the rest of their lives!" she added in a mutter._

_"That actually is a most logical suggestion."_

_ Everyone turned to gape at Spock. "Why, Spock! That sounds like spite to me!" McCoy then said as he smirked at the Vulcan. "You're becoming more human by the day!"_

_ Spock's eyebrow arched as the others – even T'Eris! – laughed . . ._

* * *

"To give Jim a child . . . "

"I think he wouldn't mind," Sulu mused. "He was briefed on the Questors as soon as he took command of the _Enterprise_. Just like I did when I was given _Excelsior_."

The other veterans of the original _Enterprise_ nodded in understanding. "Still, I do believe it would be wise to wait until Ambassador Spock arrives," Picard then mused as he sat back and drank his tea. "If I was in Captain Kirk's place, I would like to learn if I was about to receive a daughter through _that_ process."

"But who would raise such a child?" Elaine Cooper then asked; she had been briefed on what was to happen. "The Ambassador is still busy on Romulus, isn't he?"

"All of us will take care of her, Doctor," Uhura assured _Haida_'s chief medical officer. "Lord only knows, we owe Jim a lot for what he did for us when he was our captain. And we – well, most of us – were there when he lost his son David."

"A pity Jim killed Kruge on the Genesis planet after he scuttled the old _Enterprise_," Dujduy mused. "I would have taken quite considerable pleasure in torturing that narrow-minded, selfish fool had I got my hands on him."

The others all nodded. At that moment, the intercom at Cooper's desk chimed. "Bridge to Doctor Cooper," Yoshino Tomomi called out. "Please come in."

Cooper walked over to tap a control to open two-way. "Cooper."

"Sensei, the Romulan warbird _Ael'aidoann_ just de-cloaked aft of us," Tomomi reported. "Commander-General Liviana Charvanek has signalled us, requesting permission to beam over with Ambassador Spock and High Councillor Heva t'Jarok. Lieutenant Anderson is requesting you join her in Materialiser Room One to receive them."

"On my way!"

* * *

Captain's Secure Log, Stardate 48633.1,_  
Ambassador Spock has arrived and boarded _Haida_ to join his former shipmates, having been transported from Romulus with the blessings of Praetor Narviat and the direct support of both Tal Shiar High Councillor Heva t'Jarok and Commander-General Liviana Charvanek, so that he can mind-meld with Captain Kirk and assist in the final decision as to what is to happen to him in the wake of his nearly-fatal injury aboard _Enterprise_ in the saving of lives during the battle against Lursa and B'Etor.  
One potential option in this case is to grant Captain Kirk a Questor "daughter," to which General Dujduy is more than prepared to help create through the Crossing Into the Fold process, as was once done to Elder T'Eris of Vulcan, whose own "mother" was the ambassador's former protégée, Lieutenant Valeris, who committed suicide after her conviction for treason in the Khitomer affair.  
I pray other options become available . . ._

* * *

Sick Bay Flats . . .

"It already feels like a wake."

Silence fell as people in the waiting area next to the main doors to the _Haida_'s primary medical station considered that, and then Montgomery Scott gazed evenly on Pavel Chekov. "Dinnae say that, lad," the former chief engineer of _Enterprise_ said, which struck Michelle Anderson as somewhat ironic given that the retired grand admiral and commander-in-chief of Starfleet was now 126 years old and the captain of engineering was still physically 74 given the three-quarters of a century he had spent in transporter suspension aboard the wrecked S.S. _Jenolen_ on the surface of a Dyson sphere. "If anyone can help the captain now, it's Spock. He'll figure out what tae do, even in somethin' like this."

"What can be done for him?" Liviana Charvanek then asked.

"Well, regenerating his spinal tissue is easy enough," Leonard McCoy stated as he gazed in amusement at the niece of his first true friend among the Romulans, the long-missing Commander-General (and later Proconsul) Ael t'Rllaillieu. "The treatments that once saved Amanda's life have improved tremendously over the years. Sorel's daughter T'Mir runs the clinic at the Academy now, along with hers and Dan Corrigan's daughter T'Dara. I contacted her when we were coming here on the _Enterprise_ to ask if she can help. She said 'yes.'" A sigh. "Once that's done – or as we're doing it – we can fix up all the damage to his arteries and veins, then put his rib cage, spine and lungs back together again. Should take about a couple of weeks."

"You'll forgive me, Leonard, if I don't hold out to such miracle cures restoring Jim to full health."

Eyes locked on Dujduy, who was gazing nowhere in particular. "Now, that's enough," Heva t'Jarok scolded as she gazed on the general. Unlike other members of the Tal Shiar, the high councillor – who was the elder member among the senior commanders of the Romulan internal/external intelligence/internal security agency, both in age and true rank – was dressed not in a military uniform but in comfortable traveller's robes that would make her all but disappear on the streets of the poorer sections of Ki Baratan. "Medicine has advanced over the years since you last led combat troops into the field, Dujduy. What killed people back then can be healed now. Do not let old fears rule you, my friend."

A snort. "But what of Jim's _mental_ health, Heva?"

"She does have a point, ma'am."

The raven-haired, green-eyed Romulan-form Questor – who, like many of her counterparts elsewhere, was a physical exemplar of beauty amongst her ancestral people – stared wide-eyed at McCoy. "You startle me, Leonard!" she proclaimed as she put her fists to hips. "Why, if Ael herself was here and she heard THAT from YOU . . .!"

"She would agree with me, Heva. And you know that! Don't say things the woman would automatically disagree with you on!" the retired surgeon-general stated as he stared at her while waving to Ael's niece in emphasis. "There's one thing Jim always believed in." As people gazed on him, McCoy closed his eyes. "He told me this when we were camping at El Capitan at Yosemite Park in California. Just right after we brought the new _Enterprise_ into commission, right before that damned business on Nimbus III with Sybok." He sighed. "He knew he would die alone." A wry smile then crossed his face. "He knew he was safe with Spock and me around."

"Let's just hope Spock can . . . "

Before Uhura could finish her sentence, the doors leading into Sick Bay opened to reveal the Vulcan in question, he now being physically supported by Lal, who had been asked to join him since she – as an android – didn't project thoughts like organics (and Questors) always did, especially the young Avalonians now aboard _Haida_. Elaine Cooper – who had monitored the mind-meld from the security of her office so as to not affect Spock's powers by her close presence – stood behind the ambassador as Lal walked him over to a chair to allow him to sit and relax. "Spock!" McCoy gasped, horrified to see the drawn and pained look on his friend's face. "Are you alright?"

A deep breath, and then Spock gazed on his old shipmates and the others as Lal moved to kneel beside his chair. "No, Leonard, I am not," he said in a voice that reminded Picard immediately of how Sarek had sounded just before his death. "He is there. But . . . I fear that Jim is now in the same position Carl Remington was when he was wounded. Even if T'Mir and T'Dara could heal his nervous system . . . "

"There's no certainty we can get his soul to re-connect with his body again," Sulu finished as Uhura looked ready to break down and cry.

"Oh, God!" Chekov hissed out.

"Is there nothing that can be done?"

People's heads snapped around . . .

. . . and then Picard paled on seeing who was standing nearby. "Miss Inada!"

"Is there nothing that can be done?" Inada Mizuho demanded again as she came up to kneel in front of Spock, nearly knocking him insensate by the tsunami of emotion emanating from every point on her body. "He is your friend, Master Spock! You cannot . . .!"

"_**Mizuho-san!**_"

People jolted on hearing that sharp voice, and then they turned as Moroboshi Hiromi came up to gently pull the shuddering middle school student away from the Vulcan. "I do apologise most profusely for this, Lord Ambassador!" she stated as she gazed on him. "There are many of us aboard this ship who are quite well-cognisant of yourself and your long friendship with Jim!" She then gazed with sympathy at Mizuho. "Unfortunately, Mizuho-san's friend Megumi-san is one of them . . . "

"But Hiromi-sama, you can't let Kirk-taisa die!" Mizuho cried. "It's the same situation as what happened to Guinan-sama and Soran-sensei! We can simply pull his _mei'na_ back fully into his body once he's healed and he can rejoin his friends!"

Silence fell as people gazed on the would-be warrior-priestess as she broke down and wept, allowing Hiromi to hold her close. After a moment, Scott then asked, "Can it be done, lass?" As Hiromi stared at him, the Linlithgow native asked again, "Can it?"

A sigh. "Scotty . . . " – he had been quick to grant her the right to call him that when they had met – " . . . in the case of Lady Guinan and Soran-sensei, there was a noticeable fragment of their _mei'na_ missing from their minds, one two of the guardsmen aboard this ship quickly picked up on when they came into close range of her to sense it. Once we could sense it, we then could repair it with ease, which we did for both of them and we hope to do with those others of the _Lakul_ you pulled out of the Nexus the day Jim fell into it. But I don't think what's happened to Jim is anything like that!" Hiromi closed her eyes. "We Avalonians are programmed to understand the basic concepts of _tre'cha_ at our creation, just like Vulcans are trained to prepare their _katra_ in case death is imminent and the chance comes that such can be passed to a friend or relative. But . . . " A shake of the head. "I'm not a mind-healer, Scotty. There's NO ONE on this ship that has that particular type of knowledge. All of them . . . " She shrugged. "Are all back home."

"In your dimension, you mean?" he asked, a hollow pit appearing in his voice. At her nod, Scott then sighed as he slowly nodded. "I'm sorry, lass. Ye and your friends have done us all such grand favours since ye were brought here by that beastie Staff I heard about . . . " He then stopped as something came to him. "Wait! Ye said that Staff was how the lass here and all her friends were saved from their universe! Ye can use it tae help the captain!"

"Only by bringing him into MY universe," Hiromi sternly declared.

Silence.

"But . . . cannae it . . .?"

"No," Hiromi said. "Yes, the Staff brought _Haida_ here, but it expended most of its power in doing that. And that was atop the fact that in the months before we came here, it had been used to bring the souls of all the _Program_ victims – over a HUNDRED THOUSAND people! – to the bioroid factory so they could be given their lives back." A shrug as a wry smile crossed the reborn emperor's face. "Like it or not, Scotty . . . it needs a chance to recharge."

He looked at her, and then slowly nodded. "Machine built tae warp Reality around . . . and it bloody needs _recharging_ of all things! Isn't that funny?"

"I'm laughing," Chekov said in a quaking voice.

"Everyone, please."

Eyes locked on Picard. "I realise this is a very hard thing for all of you to face, but I believe Jim wouldn't want this," the current captain of the _Enterprise_ stated in as soothing a voice as he could make. Before Scott could say anything in protest, he turned to Spock. "Ambassador, did you ask Jim about . . .?"

"I did," the Vulcan said, his voice now firming as he felt his strength return. "He has granted his permission."

Picard nodded, and then he gazed on Dujduy and Heva. "I believe it's now in your hands, ladies. Do you require any assistance in this matter?"

"Have the child's father come here," Dujduy said as she nodded to Lal.

The captain nodded as he tapped his communication badge. "Picard to Data."

"Data here," the android called back from the _Enterprise_-A, where he was now acting as Officer of the Watch.

"Have yourself relieved and come aboard _Haida_ immediately, Mister Data. General Dujduy and High Councillor Heva require your assistance in Sick Bay with Captain Kirk."

"Understood, sir."

"What?" Scott demanded, a confused look on his face. "What's going on here?"

"Oh, dang it! Forgot you weren't there!" McCoy moaned. "Here, you girls go do what you have to do!" he said to the two Questors. "We'll take Scotty up to the wardroom and tell him everything!" As people stared at him, the retired surgeon-general scowled. "WELL, DON'T JUST STAND THERE, PEOPLE! GET CRACKING!"

They moved . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	13. This Is A Rescue?

On a world 260 light-years from Veridian . . .

"You have found them quite fascinating."

"I find the entire situation quite fascinating, young man," Ayelborne said as he gazed upon the visiting Metron, who had teleported in from his homeworld located in the area between the Gorn Hegemony and the Klingon Empire, over a hundred-and-sixty light years from Organia itself. "To believe that in another universe, there is actually a race that are so like the Questors . . . yet so unlike them as well."

"Is that the universe from where Moroboshi Negako hails?"

The Organian elder - who had assumed physical form even if the visiting Metron was more than prepared to speak to him in his true non-corporeal form; the Metrons had been dealing with the Medusans and other such beings for many centuries and were quite used to dealing with non-corporeals even if they themselves still were corporal (though they were getting close to the point where they would finally discard such physical forms) - nodded. "Yes. So your race converses with her as well?" he then asked.

"We have, as do the Medusans, the Melkots - quite surprisingly - the Nacene and others of the older races in this galaxy and elsewhere." The young-looking man then smiled. "She is quite intelligent for one so young." A knowing look then crossed his face. "But then again, in one aspect of her being, she is _**not**_ young at all. Is she not, Elder Ayelborne?"

A nod. "She is not. She hides it well from those she looks on as her family, but she is aware of what she is," Ayelborne stated. "As she does not wish to be worshipped as one of the 'kami' those in her homeland on Earth would address such beings as, she keeps the truth about herself hidden. Even from the eyes of her most remarkable sister who now is aboard that ship that assisted in rescuing James from the Nexus."

"You are aware of the captain's current condition."

"We are." A sigh as the Organian elder remembered the brief time the legendary captain of the _Enterprise_ had been on his world. So prepared to unleash violence . . . and yet so dedicated to peace as well as exploration. The dichotomy of such a being had always struck Ayelborne as unique, though clearly there were many others throughout the corporeal species in the galaxy who could match James Tiberius Kirk in both passion and reason. "Much that we do concern ourselves with the corporeal races in this galaxy, there are times when we can interfere. And times we cannot."

A nod. "We have felt the same way since they first learned of us. For the most part, as we see it, they have developed themselves better in the last century or so."

"They have indeed. Yet now others are casting their eyes towards this part of the galaxy, fearful of what the Federation represents. You are aware of the opening of the wormhole to the other side of the galaxy beyond the galactic core, are you not?" At the Metron's nod, Ayelborne closed his eyes. "The fear and paranoia the changelings of the Dominion express towards 'solids' will automatically make them challenge any race that they confront, even those who would never wish them any sort of harm. The Federation and her neighbours will be sorely tested in the future, beyond their capacity to understand such matters at this time. It will be terrible, more than anything they have experienced before."

"And there is the matter of the Borg."

The Organian didn't react openly on the mentioning of that race of abominations from what the Federation called the "Delta Quadrant." What those beings did to those they deemed worthy of "assimilation" into their barren Collective went against EVERY natural path of development in the known Universe. And thanks to that one Q who liked to "play" with humans from time to time, the Federation had already experienced the Collective's wrath on several occasions, especially that dreadful event at Worf 359 that had involved both Jean-Luc Picard and the man the Bajorans called "Emissary," Captain Benjamin Sisko, now commander of the joint Federation/Bajoran Deep Space Nine starbase. And would again. Especially with the presence of the U.S.S. _Voyager_ in that part of space thanks to the Nacene who was known to the natives of the planet Ocampa as the Caretaker.

"Yes, the Borg," he said. "They will not see reason. In a way, they cannot."

"But they will soon have no choice in the matter."

Ayelborne perked. "How so?"

"Have you not looked upon the world of the Voyager Child recently?"

Ayelborne blinked, and then he concentrated for a moment as his mind reached out to a place somewhere close to - as the Federation saw it - the border between the Gamma and Delta Quadrants near the Great Barrier. And a world of living machines.

And . . .

And . . .

"Oh, my!" he gasped, his eyes wide with horror.

"A frightening device, is it not?" the Metron asked.

"It is that," the Organian affirmed with a nod. "But - if I understand what you are now proposing might soon happen - I do not believe James to possess the necessary moral strength to command such a ship . . . and not fall into the temptation of using her. Even now."

"True. But we believe there IS someone who can take command of that device."

"Who?"

"The one Questor alive today who has endured the Silence in her lifetime."

Silence.

"Her?" the Organian elder breathed out, looking physically stricken as he remembered that awful moment nearly three centuries before when such a bright light had nearly been extinguished at the hands of those she was fighting. And whose eventual fate - when it was finally discovered years later - had driven the Questors into expressing an overwhelming need to remain obscure and hidden from their emotionally true home societies, a mortal fear that existed in all of them to this day. Not to mention how that event had affected that one's beloved, now trapped on a world deep in the physical heart of Alpha Quadrant, held prisoner by the wounded Questor's enemies and those who supported them out of fear of the "monster" they called "the Dark Lady" that had almost single-handedly chased them off Earth for distant Icaria.

_If they only understood TRUE fear_, Ayelborne mused as he considered the Icarians and their counterparts in the worlds deep in the heart of Beta Quadrant that the old Tokzhetoans - an offshoot colony of Sargon's race, whom the peoples of the Federation had come to call the "Preservers" - had seeded from Terran societies over the last couple of millennia. Another pair of races that could potentially come into conflict in the Organians' very own front yard, so to speak. _If they only understood . . ._

"Aye," the Metron said. "In that, I believe the captain's coming daughter will play a hand in the coming events, especially when the _Cornwallis_ returns home. Which should be around the same time the Borg proceed on their next push into the Federation."

"Would James be needed in guiding her?"

"Need you ask something terrible like _that_, Ayelborne?"

He turned as his friends and fellow High Councillors appeared. Not with the grandiose flash the Q often displayed when they made their presence among the corporeals known, but just a simple fading in to visual view. Feeling a little chastised by Trefayne's comment, Ayelborne then nodded. "You are right, my friend. James' friends mean very well and have done some much for themselves and others over the years, but they are not James himself. Still, if we _**do**_ interfere . . . "

"We can disguise it," Claymare advised.

The others nodded. "Yes, that is true. I am sure Negako will understand the need. And she does deeply care for her adopted family." Ayelborne frowned slightly. "Still, there is the question of her brother. And the poor child's bond to _Him_."

A flash of energy. "You will not allow THAT to come here, will you?"

"No, Q, we will not," the leader of Organia said as he gazed on the member of the Continuum that had just joined them. Not the playful fellow who did things that caused much pain yet also sought to teach the humans lessons about the truths of the wider Universe . . . but the fellow that had reprimanded that one Q five years ago (as Terrans told time) for his actions against the crew of the _Enterprise_, then later restored the fellow's powers when he had elected to save the humans he had been placed with from the Calamarain. Which had struck all of the Continuum as coming a little too close emotionally to what an elder of that species had once decided to do.

Remembering _that_ particular member of the Continuum, Ayelborne then realised something. _His place of imprisonment is on the path _Voyager _will most likely take to return home_, he mused. _Perhaps the Continuum as a whole might learn something if that one should be found by young Kathryn and her companions._ After a moment of considering what might happen in that case, the Organian elder then relaxed._ Ah, what will come will come. Still, even if what Negako's brother is bonded to is quite disagreeable - though the Master seems to have allowed His current Avatar the leeway to do as he pleases, thus allowing him to be more a force for Creation than Entropy - it would not do to upset the Continuum more than necessary._

He then turned to gaze upon the visiting Q. "In fact, if you will excuse us, we will go to meet Negako and inform her of what has happened."

Q nodded, a smile crossing his face. "Then the Continuum will not interfere in this matter."

With that, he vanished. The Organians soon also vanished into their true forms as they moved to breach the dimensional walls. Watching them go, the lone Metron then smiled. "I once told you, Captain Kirk, that there is hope for your kind, though it would take several thousand of your years to reach our level," he then said as he moved to return to his homeworld. "But with your daughter and what she may be able to do, I believe you and those close to you personally will reach that goal much sooner . . . "

And with that, he was gone and Organia once more seemed empty . . .

* * *

U.S.S. _Arizona_, Christmas Day 2010, mid-forenoon watch (Pacific Standard Time) . . .

_Amazing. These people can look, but they cannot truly _see_ . . ._

Sitting in the combat information centre of the American starship as the command crew argued what had happened to _Haida_ among themselves and with members of the Canadian starship's crew that had been at home when she had _**disappeared**_ like she did - along with a former Niphentaxian Navy battlewagon that had been secured alongside the bioroid factory; something that had _**not**_ come into the discussions between the military personnel since everyone had gathered here a couple hours before! - and how they were going to search for the missing ship and get her and the people aboard back home as quickly as possible, Moroboshi Negako could only shake her head. _They have had several months to fully research what was happening aboard the bioroid factory_, the ninjutsu grandmaster mused. _Otako and her advisors have told many people about the two sealed-off gestation towers in the factory time and time again to anyone who came aboard. It should have struck _someone_ as quite odd that such a considerable section of the structure has been blocked totally off from outside access for the better part of __**ten months**__. And the emanations from the Staff of Gihan could easily be detected if someone only chose to cast a scanner unit in that direction._ Another shake of the head. _If this is Earth's _best_ hope at this time, I truly fear what might happen if a __**real**__ threat comes our way from beyond._

"Negako-sama?"

She turned to gaze upon Hidari Mijiko. The young, pale-skinned girl with the long black hair and the evergreen eyes - to the tōshi of the Three Kingdoms age of China, she was the real "Saji Genpō," not the handsome Nan'yō senior who had been born as Wan Yuruji and had been blessed with the battle-name "Ōin Shishi" - still had problems being close to so many other people, but the deep meditation exercises and a little shiatsu treatment to help her better control her telepathic and genjutsu abilities had done much to build up her confidence. Not to mention getting her an Avalonian body-swap, done per Hiromi's wishes a month after she had agreed to become Negako's student and take up residence in the guest house on the Moroboshi property in Tomobiki. She still was a little too clingy to Negako from time to time, which often annoyed Kaga, though the grandmaster had been quick to reprimand her would-be life-mate on such behaviour whenever it got too excessive and Mijiko was about to lose control . . . but the young tōshi was moving in the right direction.

"What is the matter, Mijiko?" Negako then asked.

"The girl that was in that escape pod from the battlewagon has awoken. Kada-sensei is with her now in Sick Bay, along with the senior school leaders."

"Excellent," Negako stated as she stood. "Let us leave the _experts_ . . . " - Mijiko tried not to giggle on hearing the slight touch of scorn in the grandmaster's voice on saying that word - " . . . to their deliberations while we learn the truth of what has befallen Hiromi and the others. Come, Mijiko. Sick Bay awaits."

With that, both stepped out through the back door of the CIC to the nearest turbolift station. Getting aboard the next car, they rode down into the heart of the American starship's main hull, heading aft to roughly amidships, where the medical centre for the ship was located. Stepping onto what Canadians would call "Sick Bay Flats" - Negako hadn't bothered to learn the American term for this location - the two then walked over to the waiting area that had been set up by the main doors to the ship's primary medical station. Waiting for them was a brown-haired man in his late twenties, with glasses over his green eyes and the slight twitchiness in his hands indicative of a man who desperately needed a nicotine fix right now, yet couldn't do same on a ship where smoking was flatly forbidden under ALL circumstances. "Hokaji."

"Ah, Negako-san," Hana Hokaji (Kada Genka) said as he gave the grandmaster an amused smile. Unlike younger fighters, the so-called "tōshi doctor" - he ran a private clinic in Kimitsu, not far from the Nan'yō Academy, which catered to both traditional and modern medicine - had never experienced any bad encounters in his several previous Japanese-born incarnations with the _Saik__ō__ Jinseijutsu_, so he didn't react with the mix of fear and wariness others like him often felt around Negako. "I see young Mijiko-chan found you."

"I did state where I would be," Negako noted.

"True, true," he said as he opened the door, beckoning the two ladies inside. "We've got us a most incredible mystery here in the young lady our hosts rescued right after _Haida_ vanished. Tell me: Are you familiar with the novel _Battle Royale_?"

"Ataru collected the manga series that was adopted from the novel, composed both by the novel's writer, Takami Kōshun, and the manga artist Taguchi Masayuki."

A sigh. "We're dealing with a replica - or so I believe her to be - of Sakaki Yūko. Shiroiwa Junior High School, Class 3-B, Girl number Nine. Fortunately, Tsueko-chan is familiar with the series, so she briefed the others in about her. She was one of the 'lighthouse girls;' she committed suicide after she provoked the deaths of her friends by accidentally poisoning one of them and causing the others to panic and start a shoot-out with each other." Here, the doctor shook his head. "But I seriously think . . . "

"Do not think, Hokaji. Know."

He stopped to stare wide-eyed at her, and then he paused as he considered what he had learned from Negako before he had gone in to examine the girl. "Oh, my . . .!" he then breathed out. "Are you saying this is the REAL Sakaki Yūko?"

Negako nodded. "From a universe where the events of _Battle Royale_ DID occur. With the involvement of the Staff of Gihan, such a possibility is in the high ninety-nine percentile range. And - given from what I was able to sense of her emotions; she is able to protect her mind from a direct telepathic probe even while in a semi-lucid state - I believe the manga series would be the best point of reference when considering what she endured before she was drawn into our universe. Along with all her female friends from that class."

"But why, Negako-sama?" Mijiko then asked.

"Elaborate, Mijiko."

"Why would someone want to drag people's souls from one universe to another?"

"That, we must learn and I believe Yūko will be able to explain to us once she has overcome her fear of being forced here, away from her friends, not to mention her bond-mate. I was nowhere close to that section of the factory when I assisted in its liberation from the Niphentaxians, so I am unaware of what exactly transpired or to whom Yūko is currently bonded." A sigh. "I was the first to note the sealing off of those two towers from the remainder of the factory to Otako and her advisors, but no one has since bothered to ask me for assistance in helping them re-open that location. No doubt out of a desire to show as much self-determination as possible to all around them. I believe Yūko can explain that situation as well. Let us go speak to her."

They headed into one of the isolation rooms. Already there, standing around the lone bed in the centre of the space, were the senior leaders of the Seven Battle Schools of Kantō and several affiliate schools. Or - in the case of Seito High School - a stand-in due to said leader's current absence from this dimension; Koeru Kumomi's girlfriend Hayashi Miiko (Ryūen Kunrō), adopted sister to Moroboshi Tariko's own lover Hayashi Kanami and her brother, born as Saotome Ranma and now living as Hayashi Ranma, lover to Nan'yō Academy senior Sebone Mimōko (Ryomō Shimei). They were now gazing at the lone woman cowering under the covers, though one of them - Mago Tsueko (Sonsaku Hakufu) - was trying her best to make light of the situation by flashing the shivering Sakaki Yūko a series of funny faces. It wasn't doing much to help matters.

"Tsueko, cease that," Negako advised. "Yūko is frightened enough as is with all the others gazing on her like she had personally stabbed Hiromi in the back." As the young leader of Nan'yō giggled on hearing that, the grandmaster turned to gaze on Yūko, who was now staring in wide-eyed shock and recognition at her. "Or would you have done such with one of Uziel Gal's sub-machine guns, Yūko? That was the weapon you ended up trying to use on Shūya in the lighthouse kitchen after you saw Satomi gun down Haruka, Yukie and Chisato - Satomi being shot down by Haruka in turn - in the wake of your accidentally poisoning Yūka."

"Holy fuck!" Futoshi Itsuku (Taishiji Shigi) breathed out. "You mean to say she's REALLY from . . .?" He stared wide-eyed at the shivering middle school senior, who had nearly dived under the covers on hearing his outburst. "Oh, man . . .!" he breathed out.

"Yes, Itsuku. This is really her. Her reality is quite close to the manga series you are familiar with." A sigh. "In the dimension she was born in, the _Daitōa Kyōwakoku_ exists. As does _The Program_. Yūko - and forty-one others in her class at Shiroiwa Junior High School in Kagawa-ken - were participants in one particular 'episode' of same. Around the summer of the year 2000, I believe."

"I saw the movie once," Itsuku's girlfriend Kokoni Kichimi (Ukitsu) then said as she gave Yūko - who was now staring in wide-eyed shock at Negako - a sympathetic look while the others relaxed. "Never thought in all my life that it would be _real_!"

"Read the manga myself," Tsukasa Torusuke (Sōsō Mōtoku) breathed out as he shook his head, horrified that somewhere in the vastness of existence, there actually existed a nation - the kanji that went into _kyōwakoku_ could be read as "country of all harmony," which struck him as totally ironic given what the Greater East Asia Republic in _Battle Royale_ did to their very own children . . . and had done so for over _**fifty**_ years! - that actually condoned the flat-out **_murder_** of young teenagers. And coached it in the form of a perverted _**television show**_ that actually enjoyed high approval ratings (according to the manga narrative he could remember). "That you survived that, Yūko-chan, is amazing."

That did it. Yūko blinked as she gazed on the quite handsome senior student from the Kyoshō Academy - her cheeks then reddening as she interpreted Torusuke's compliment - and then she slowly breathed out. "Who are you people?"

"What do you mean by that, Sakaki-san?" On Tsuguta (Enshō Honsho) asked.

"I mean . . . " Here, the pretty brown-haired girl with the dark brown eyes took a deep breath. "Why are you aboard this ship? You're too young to serve in the American armed forces. And since you're all Japanese, you'd be aboard _Yamato_ even if you WERE old enough to be in the Republic Navy." Noting Torusuke about to raise a point, she then flustered. "Well, whatever you call in here, of course! We didn't pay any attention to that sort of thing when we started bringing all the other _Program_ survivors through the _Te'a_ to the factory to give them new bodies they can use." As the people around her blinked on taking that titbit of information in, she asked. "Who are you? I mean, I know why Negako-sensei is here; she's Hiromi-sempai's sister and she helped the Noukiites and the Yehisrites get the factory away from the Niphentaxians and all that, but none of you were there. So why are you here anyway?"

"Boy, Yūkitchi can sure rattle, can't she?" Tsueko mused.

Laughter filled the room from the other tōshi as Negako gave the leader of Nan'yō a pointed look. The grandmaster then noted Yūko now blushing at the cute nickname that Tsueko had just given her. "Tsueko is like that, Yūko," she then explained. "If you have earned her respect - and enduring _The Program_ even if your soul was saved from a final passage into the _Te'a_ by whoever controlled the Staff of Gihan certainly would earn even MY understanding - then you qualify for a nickname from her."

Yūko blinked, and then she gazed up at Tsueko, who was giggling as she scratched the back of her head. She then perked on remembering something Negako had just said. "You know about the Staff? The one Mizuho seized from that creep that was going to turn us into sex slaves? Even turn the boys into girls to make them slaves, too?"

Silence fell as the visiting tōshi took that in, and then a disgusted look crossed the face of Kashira Emi (Mōkaku). "Fuck me! Every damn TIME I hear of those bakayaro slimebags, they just sink lower and lower! How old are you, kid?"

Yūko hummed. "Well, when I was taken to Oki-shima, Sempai, I was fifteen. But it's been almost a year since I came to this universe, so I guess I'm sixteen."

"Could you imagine if they had been taken younger?" Tadasu Suguta (Tōtaku Chūei) asked as he shook his head. "To think that what we have gone through is bad enough."

"Yeah, I can imagine it, man," Itsuku mused.

"So what do we do to get the Emperor and the others back?" Tsuguta asked.

"Negako-sama, have they determined where they could've gone?" Miiko asked.

Negako sighed. "No, Miiko. They have yet to act on anything. They are still debating over how they could try to reconstruct the accident that befell _Haida_, all on the false belief that there was some sort of malfunction in the ship's warp core that made her slip out of this dimension into whatever dimension she is in right now. Not considering that now there is a missing captured Niphentaxian Kashin-class battlewagon, not to mention that the Avalonians can finally access the two gestation towers were Yūko and her friends have been residing within for the past ten months."

"Most likely, they might've gone back to my dimension."

Eyes locked on Yūko. "Why there?" Torusuke said.

"Well, you were going to send us back there anyway . . .!"

"_**SAY WHAT?**_"

The poor middle school senior cried out on sensing many pairs of burning eyes glaring at her. "**_WHO THE HELL PUT _THAT_ STUPID IDEA INTO YOUR HEADS?_**" Emi snarled for them all. "**_YOU HONESTLY THINK THE _AVALONIANS_ OF ALL THE RACES IN THE GALAXY WOULD ACTUALLY SEND YOU KIDS _BACK_ INTO THAT HELLHOLE? ARE YOU ON DRUGS, GIRL?_**"

"Besides, it's simply _impossible_ to send you back there permanently."

Eyes locked on Hana Hokaji. "What do you mean, Doc?" Emi asked.

"Simple law of interdimensional travel, Emi-chan. You CANNOT remain in a dimension other than the one of your birth for more than one solar year - according to the length of time your planet of birth takes to orbit its sun - before AUTOMATICALLY being phased back to the dimension of your birth." He gazed on Yūko. "Even if your soul was born in a different dimension, Yūko-chan, the body you possess now was created on the bioroid factory in THIS dimension. Put simply, your friends have to live HERE."

"Which should be more agreeable to you than to return to the land of your birth," Negako stated. "I would therefore conclude that your friends plan to use the Staff to acquire DNA from all the male participants of _The Program_ since the bioroid factory's gestation computers will not accept reprogramming to create male bioroids. Then you would use the Staff to override those programming protocols and allow your male peers to be reborn as men. Thus, you ALL can then restart your lives in our dimension. Either in Japan or elsewhere."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

Yūko blinked, and then her eyes began to tear. "W-w-we can st-st-stay . . .?"

"Yep! You're home free, Yūkitchi!" Tsueko said.

On hearing that from the leader of Nan'yō, the young girl shuddered before she finally broke down as the tension of the last few days - to say anything of the last _**ten months**_ of her life, since she had awoken in that damned classroom on Oki-shima with a Number 22 "Guadalcanal" explosive-equipped tracking collar wrapped around her neck to find out that she would either live or die in the following three days - flowed out of her. As she began to uncontrollably sob, she was instantly swamped by hugs from Tsueko, Miiko and Kichimi while the others in the room shook their heads in mute sympathy . . .

* * *

Minutes later . . .

"_**BE SILENT!**_"

That ear-splitting barked shout caused everyone in _Arizona_'s CIC to freeze in place as they all turned aft to stare at the lone woman standing at one end of the main plotting table, her hands on the surface of the large device and a most displeased - for her - look on her face. Standing to either side of her were the senior tōshi of the Seven Schools of Kantō and their friends, not to mention a young teenager in a Japanese school seifuku who looked like she had just spent a long period crying her guts out. As the mixed crew of American and Canadian personnel stared at Negako for a moment, the grandmaster then asked, "Thomas, are you preparing now to cross the dimensional barriers to where _Haida_ is right now so that we can ascertain the fate of those aboard?"

Thomas Kazanski blinked, and then he sighed. "We're still trying to understand WHAT happened to them, ma'am," he then stated. "I won't risk the ship and the crew unless I know exactly what I'm going to be sailing into first."

A nod. "Then you have scanned the location _Haida_ was in before she transitioned out of this dimension," she stated before her eyebrow arched. "Have you?"

The former F-14 fighter pilot - who was clearly NOT used to being talked down to by anyone, even if the woman now speaking to him was so tough, she was said to eat Marine Force Recon gunnery sergeants for a mid-morning snack! - blinked. "Um . . . "

Negako clearly did not look impressed. "I see. Have you also taken note of the missing captured Niphentaxian battlewagon that was docked alongside the Avalon bioroid factory. Which ALSO phased out of this dimension at the very same moment _Haida_ did?"

He looked surprised. "We didn't notice that!"

"You did NOT?"

Most of the people in the CIC visibly winced on hearing the slight note of profound disapproval in the ninjutsu grandmaster's normally toneless voice. "Ooooh! Someone's in _troooooooooooble_ . . .!" Tsueko quietly trilled.

Some of the other tōshi snickered on doing that. "Ladies and gentlemen, I will do this only ONCE!" Negako then stated, putting enough of a command bite into her voice to make sure the people there would listen to her. "Kevin, you are the commander of the ship's propulsion system personnel," she turned to _Arizona_'s chief engineering officer, Commander Kevin Lorrah. "Prepare the ship for a controlled in-system warp of fifteen seconds once we clear Luna's orbit line. Revolutions 105 on both main engines, half-ahead thrust. Alter the intake valves on the tachytron collectors to a nucleii vibratory frequency of 839.721, then alter the phase variance in the main reactors to match that value. That will create a dimensional rift warp which will take us into the dimension _Haida_ currently is within. Clarke," she then spoke to the ship's combat officer, Commander Clarke Zarn. "Have the ship's navigational deflectors raised to shield the ship itself from the tachytron phase variance that I just described to Kevin. If there is a discrepancy in the shielding, there will be damage and casualties. You must prevent that. Thomas," she then said to the captain. "You may inform your commanders that _Arizona_ is proceeding at once on a rescue-and-recovery mission to locate _Haida_ and return her to this dimension as soon as it is practicable. Please also inform them that once that is done, we will then proceed to the universe where Yūko here and her friends were taken from against their wills to retrieve their friends and return them here."

Silence fell as they took that in, and then Negako's eyebrow arched.

"I would _**suggest**_ you move with swiftness," she icily added.

_That_ got them moving . . .

* * *

_Arizona_'s goat locker (the chief petty officers' lounge), moments later . . .

"WHAT the fuck happened?"

The American starship's senior enlisted rating, Command Master Chief Petty Officer (Surface Warfare/Aviation Warfare) Keith Hayward, laughed as he sipped his coffee. "She just marched in there, barked out 'Be silent!' to the whole crew in there, gave the Boss and all the officers there shit for NOT doing their jobs, then taught Commanders Lorrah and Zarn how to do an interdimensional jump! And they just stood there and gaped at her before she added . . . " He then switched his normal Midwestern twang to a good approximation of Negako's toneless voice. "'I would _**suggest**_ you move with swiftness.'"

The other chief petty officers and above/gunnery sergeants and above - and the visiting senior Canadian non-commissioned members from _Haida_ from petty officer 1st class/warrant officer and above who were now aboard _Arizona_, among them being the regimental sergeant-major of the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards, Chief Warrant Officer Marc Duchesne, plus the wing chief warrant officer of 21 Space Wing, Formation Chief Warrant Officer Jake Galloway - all howled with laughter on hearing that from the former master chief aviation maintenanceman who had, when he was not so high in the ratings, served as the Iceman's crew chief in the Tophatters. "It's like I've always said ever since I first met that woman!" the senior enlisted man of the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, Sergeant Major Henry Nicholas, stated with a shake of her head. "We aughta clone her a few dozen times, then get the clones posted to every training depot, camp and base across the planet! Parris Island, San Diego, Great Lakes . . . "

"Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu," Duchesne said with a smirk.

A laugh. "Yeah! Even places like Benning, Jackson, Leonard Wood . . .!"

"And Lackland," the senior Air Force non-commissioned officer assigned to the USAF liaison team to _Arizona_, Chief Master Sergeant Carl Gordon, added.

"Don't forget Cape May!" said the Coast Guard senior rating aboard the American starship, Master Chief Aviation Survival Technician Hugh Miller.

"Maybe we should get them to the trade schools, too," WCWO Galloway mused as he handed a cup of coffee to the Coast Guard rescue swimmer, whom he had worked with on occasion when the Air Force search-and-rescue technician had been squadron warrant officer of 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron in Comox and ASTCM Miller had been assigned to the United States Coast Guard Cutter _Munro_, based across the Gulf of Alaska from Vancouver Island at the Kodiak station. "Don't you think, Hugh?"

"Hell, Jake! I'll agree to that!" Miller said with a laugh.

"Marc!"

Duchesne perked on hearing that voice, and then turned as a woman walk in, bearing the insignia of a Canadian Navy chief petty officer 2nd class on her CADPATs over the unit tab for 2 Field Ambulance, based at Petawawa. She had a mixed look of disgust and horror on her face. "What the hell is it, Louise?" the 1 CG RSM demanded.

Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Louise Watson, the senior physician assistant assigned to the detached medical platoon from 2 Field Ambulance to the 1st Battalion of the Guards, handed him a dataPADD. "This is about the girl Senior Chief Sullivan's people pulled out of that escape pod sometime after _Haida_ went POOF!" she said. "You have got to see this shit to believe it, Marc!" She turned to Hayward and Nicholas. "Ellen's bringing the girl here now. She's got a PADD for you guys to . . . "

"_TABARNAC!_"

Eyes locked on Marc Duchesne. "What's wrong, Marc?" Nicholas asked.

The Vandoo-turned-Guardsman - who had been given a free round of drinks from the chief petty officers of SEAL Team 72 aboard _Arizona_ when they saw he bore the Special Operations Assaulter qualification badge on his short-sleeved dress shirt which marked him as a former assaulter of Joint Task Force Two - was shaking his head. "This is her?" he then asked in a hushed voice as he stared wide-eyed at Watson. "Really?"

A grim nod. "Everything in that manga happened to her, Marc. It's in the ship's databanks; the Director's brother collected the whole set." A sigh. "Something someone on Phentax Twelve did just before Negako and her friends hit the place pulled her very _**soul**_ through the dimensional veils." Watson's lips turned into a disgusted sneer. "To make her - _**a fifteen-year old girl!**_ - a SEX-SLAVE!"

"SAY WHAT?" Nicholas snarled. "You mind repeating that, Doc?" he asked as his accent - born in the back streets of Harlem - deepened.

"That's not all, Sergeant Major," the physician assistant said as she glared at him. "There were _**twenty**_ other girls in that class! They were GRADE NINE STUDENTS in JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL! All . . .!" Her voice then failed as she looked down.

"Which manga, Doc?"

Eyes locked on the ship's "chief boats," Senior Chief Boatswain's Mate (Diving Salvage Warfare) Andrew Sullivan; the man was a passionate manga fan. "_Battle Royale_, Drew," Duchesne stated.

Everyone then gazed on the dark-skinned native of New Orleans, quickly seeing his face turn VERY pale. "Care to brief us in, Drew?" Hayward asked.

"Holy FUCK . . .!" Sullivan spat out as he shook his head. "And . . . in another dimension . . .?" He turned to gaze wide-eyed at Watson. "It's _real_?"

"Greater East Asia Republic, _The Program_, forty kids on average forced to KILL each other over a three-day period every goddamned YEAR . . .!" the physician assistant from Brandon spat out as she accepted Duchesne's handkerchief to wipe her eyes. "And only ONE survives . . . or they ALL die! And what's worse, it's _**televised live**_!"

People stared at her . . .

. . . and then perked on hearing the door to the goat locker open, a young voice then asking in Japanese (which was automatically translated into English for them to understand), " . . . it called a 'goat locker,' Master Chief Wynthrop?"

The men and women in the room all blinked as the girl that Sullivan's men had pulled out of that escape pod came into the room, escorted in by _Arizona_'s new senior enlisted medic, Master Chief Hospital Corpsman (Enlisted Expeditionary Warfare/Fleet Marine Force Enlisted Warfare) Ellen Wynthrop. "Actually, a lot of people don't know exactly where the term came from, but . . . " The older woman then stopped herself on seeing everyone in the lounge gazing at her companion. "What?"

"Ellen!"

She turned to stare at the portal that opened up into the small kitchen beside the goat locker, and then she gaped. "Commander! What are you doing . . .?"

"Never you mind, Master Chief," Commander Casey Ryback said before he smiled politely at Yūko, who was gazing in confusion at this rather tall and muscular man who looked a lot like the American aikidō-trained action/adventure actor Steven Segal, whom she had heard about from bootleg movies that had been smuggled through the Internet into the Greater East Asia Republic and were popular among her male classmates. Much to the shock of many of the military people in the goat locker, the commander of SEAL Team 72 was in a cook's uniform. "I know about the manga. Yūko-chan!" he then greeted her before switching to Japanese. "«You obviously haven't had much to eat since you got into that pod Drew's guys bailed you out of!»" He indicated _Arizona_'s chief boatswain's mate in emphasis before asking, "«What sort of breakfast do you want? We'll be heading out pretty soon to go find your friends, then go kick the hell out of those creeps that made you do _The Program._»"

Yūko blinked, surprised that this American could speak such eloquent Japanese - she could tell the difference between real speech and a translator system - and then she blushed. "«Um . . . miso soup, some kimch'i and rice?»" she asked before she giggled, which struck the others in the goat locker as downright cute. "«I've been eating replicator food for so long, I rather miss the real stuff.»" Another giggle.

"«Replicator food?»" Here, the cook/senior special warfare operator shuddered. "«Don't you worry about that! The United States Navy doesn't feed it's personnel that stuff!»" As the people in the goat locker laughed - _Arizona_'s translators were keeping them perfectly in tune with what Ryback was saying to the young girl - he then called out, "Cue Ball!"

"Yeah, Case?" SEAL 72's senior non-commissioned officer, Command Master Chief (Naval Special Warfare) Lee Hinton - a former shipmate of Ryback's from when they served on U.S.S. _Missouri_ back in the early 1990s; it was the incident with William Strannix and his men that had convinced the former yeoman to train as a full-time SEAL - called out.

"Get the lady a seat."

Hinton nodded. "You got it, Case! Clear some room, guys!"

Another of the SEAL chief petty officers shifted over to provide space for a free chair while a Marine gunnery sergeant carried over an empty chair over so that their new guest could be comfortable. Nodding thanks to Ryback - as he was a former chief petty officer before he had taken a commission after the Strannix incident, the senior members of _Arizona_'s non-commissioned officers always saw him as one of their own even if tradition had it that officers (even "mustang" officers) normally did NOT enter the goat locker of a United States Navy ship unless directly invited by the senior NCO in the lounge - Wynthrop escorted Yūko over so she could sit down. Sullivan then came up. "You want some juice or some milk, ma'am?" the chief boatswain's mate asked in his most polite Louisiana drawl.

"Apple juice?" she asked in accented English.

"You got it. Hear that, Jack?"

"Got it, Drew!" the ship's chief cook, Senior Chief Culinary Specialist (Surface Warfare/Submarine Warfare) John Garza, called out as he ducked behind the bar to prepare a tall glass of juice.

"'Cue Ball?'" Yūko then asked Lee Hinton.

Hinton smirked. "They call me that because I play a mean game of pool! Or billiards; I don't know how you call it in Japan," he explained as Garza came over with the apple juice. He then noted that _Arizona_'s command master chief had shifted over to one corner of the room, along with 72 MEU's command sergeant major, 1 CG's regimental sergeant-major and 21 Space Wing's formation chief warrant officer, not to mention CPO2 Watson, ASTCM Miller and Chief Master Sergeant Gordon, plus the American Army liaison team's senior NCO, Command Sergeant Major Paul Winslow. Noting that Hayward was waving at him to come over while Watson was motioning Wynthrop to join them as well, Hinton smiled at her. "'Cuse me for a minute, ma'am. Drew, you wanna take over?"

"Sure thing, Cue Ball," Sullivan said; he had seen what Hayward was doing.

The command master chief of SEAL Team 72 walked over to join the other senior NCOs and NCMs from both _Arizona_ and _Haida_. "What's up, Keith?"

"Pass it on to everyone you can talk to, Lee," _Arizona_'s command master chief petty officer whispered. "I took a look at that manga segment the Doc here passed to Marc. This is serious shit, _amigo_." THAT made Lee Hinton blink; Keith Hayward was not a man driven to profanity even in private talk with close friends. "Have EVERYONE read that manga when they're off-watch. No exceptions, even the newbies. Got it?"

A nod. "Aye-aye, Master Chief."

* * *

The combat information centre, twenty minutes later . . .

"Just cleared the Moon's orbit line at Lagrange Point Four, Captain!"

"Very well, then," Kazanski said as he gazed on the plotting table. "Engines, how soon will you be ready to perform the dimensional warp?"

"System's all green, Boss!" Kevin Lorrah called back from the engineer monitor station deep within the after part of the main hull. "We're ready!"

"Execute!"

"Aye-aye, sir! Executing dimensional warp now!"

As the people in the CIC - including Moroboshi Negako, who was seated in the "admiral's chair" at the aft end of the main plotting table; this would be Moroboshi Hiromi's seat when she was aboard the American starship - watched, the field of stars before _Arizona_ then turned into a shower of light as she engaged her main drive and leapt into hyperspace. "Okay, we're cooking with gas here!" the chief engineer called up. "Starting to phase through the dimensional barrier . . . NOW!"

_Arizona_ quaked slightly as she made the transition, which made everyone in the CIC save Negako grab onto something. The ninjutsu grandmaster was as calm as she normally was, though her eyes were closed.

_Now, Ayelborne_, she thought out.

She ignored the sense of a smile from a certain Organian elder . . .

. . . as the shudders that were rocking the American starship suddenly faded while Lorrah called out the countdown to de-warp from hyperspace. By the set fifteen seconds of the manoeuvre, _Arizona_ burst out into normal space, finding itself approaching a rather large G-class star somewhere in the galaxy. As the people took in the sight, one of the cryptologic technicians manning a secure communications station perked before looking at Kazanski. "Captain! I'm picking up _Haida_'s ID beacon!"

"Where?" Clarke Zarn demanded as Captain (Navy) Brian Gamblin, who had taken a seat beside Kazanski as a fellow starship captain, looked over.

"Port quarter, course 210 off the ship's centreline, mark 004. Range seventeen million nautical miles and approaching in this direction."

"Alright! Hard about and get on that course, Quartermaster!"

"Aye-aye, sir!" the quartermaster in the pilotage room called back. "Port forty, making my course 210 mark 004 off ship's centerline. Aligning ship's navigation system to secure comms tracking to home in on _Haida_."

"New contact!"

"What is it?" Zarn demanded.

"Bearing off ship's bow, port 55 mark 344, sir! Designate contact Canyon Sixteen," one of the operations specialists looked over from his station. "Large contact. She's about 1,450 feet long, 1,045 feet wide, has a height of 430 feet and she masses a little over three million long tons." The man played with his controls. "Current range 74,700 nautical miles from us, but she's bearing away from us, heading in the general direction _Haida_ is right now."

"Oh, HELL . . .!" Gamblin snarled.

"Be calm, Brian," Negako cut in. "Place the contact on the screen."

"Aye, ma'am!" the operations specialist said as he keyed controls.

The image then changed to that of a silver-hued vessel with an oval-shaped hull over something tubular that was connected to it at the aft end. That protrusion was flanked on both sides by what appeared to be engine pods. And the whole was topped off with a triangular pod held up by a thick pylon. Given its general design and looks, it was all too recognisable even to those who _weren't_ fans of a certain television show from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. "That's a _Federation starship_!" Zarn exclaimed.

"From _Star Trek_?" Kazanski asked, an incredulous tone in his voice.

"_Next Generation_, Captain!" the combat officer replied. "Can't recognise . . . "

"It's a Nebula, sir."

Eyes locked on another of the ship's operations specialists, bearing the single chevron of a third-class petty officer on her dungaree shirt. "Type?" Gamblin asked.

"Nebula-class explorer, Captain. Like a shrunk-down version of the Galaxy-class explorers; the _Enterprise_-D from _Next Gen_ was of that class." Here, Operations Specialist Third Class (Air Warfare) Jacqueline Litchenburg moved to tap controls to get a copy of the image on the main view screen onto her personal PADD. "Checking the hull code on her engine pylon right now." Everyone stared at her as she read out, "November-Charlie-Charlie-Six-Zero-Five-Niner-Seven," she read out, and then blinked as she recalled where she had read that particular pendant code before. "I think that's U.S.S. _Farragut_, sir."

"Combat, Port Lookout!"

Zarn tapped a control at his station. "Combat!"

"Sir, contact Canyon Sixteen is flashing us with her hull lights," the junior quartermaster manning the visual lookout on _Arizona_'s port bridge wing reported. "She's identifies herself as United Federation Starship _Farragut_ and she's asking us if we require any assistance, sir. Should I signal back to her with Morse lamp?"

The people on the bridge save for Negako all gaped . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	14. Spock and Data, Meet Negako

Captain's Log, Stardate 48633.8,_  
Starships_ Farragut_, _Saratoga_ and _Troper _have arrived in the Veridian system to assist _Bozeman_ and _Enterprise_-A with the rescue operations and evacuation of personnel off _Enterprise_-D for eventual transfer to Starbase 105 for mission debriefing and reassignment. In command of the force is Rear Admiral Gregory Quinn with his flag on _Saratoga_. I am pleased to note that he did recover fully from being inhabited by an alien neural parasite seven years ago while he was assigned to Starfleet Headquarters on Earth and I am looking most forward to seeing him again as he informed me he will be the reviewing officer concerning the incident over Veridian III.  
Also joining us - this time from _Haida_'s universe - is the United States Starship _Arizona_ under Captain Thomas Kazanski. He, on _Haida_'s accidental shift into our dimension, began organising rescue operations under the overall control of Director Hiromi Moroboshi's elder adopted sister, the Grandmaster Negako Moroboshi of the Moroboshi-Hana Saik__ō__ Jinseijutsu-ry__ū__, their in-family school of stealth martial arts.  
I have been warned of the grandmaster's many peculiarities - especially her aversion to being addressed by any title, much less her not addressing anyone short of her nation's own Emperor by rank or title - and Counsellor Troi has been advised to be careful around her given the grandmaster's Vulcan-like control over her emotions, which can be quite taxing on any unprepared empath at close range. I must also confess that Commander Worf is interested in making the grandmaster's acquaintance.  
I am also looking forward to meeting _Haida_'s own captain . . ._

* * *

_Enterprise_, the captain's ready room . . .

"Welcome aboard, Captain Gamblin."

"It's a pleasure - though I will confess to being quite shocked at this - to be here, Captain Picard," Brian Gamblin said as he shook Jean-Luc Picard's hand. "I always knew there were parallel dimensions to our own - it's one of the first things military officers who plan to work in the Earth Defence Force learn - but to believe things I would normally look on as _science fiction_ are real in those other dimensions . . . " A chuckle as Picard beckoned him to the guest chair. "How were your losses?"

"No one died. Thanks very much to both Director Moroboshi and Lieutenant Anderson," Picard said as he took his own chair. "We did have several severe injuries. Captain Kirk - he's under Doctor Cooper's supervision at this time as General Dujduy and High Councillor Heva move to literally _create_ his own daughter - being the most severe of them all. But no one died, fortunately." He then picked up a dataPADD that Gamblin was quick to recognise as standard issue for the Earth Defence Force. "I've already written up an after-action report at Lieutenant Anderson's request so that your commanders back in your dimension can be briefed on what happened here. I've also added my personal commendation to her and several of your crew for their actions concerning our battle with Lursa and B'Etor, not to mention other things."

"Commander Data's daughter being one of them. Or so I've been told already by Chief Beaulieu," Gamblin said as he took the offered PADD and placed it aside. "I've got to take some time to review this whole mess before I decide what to do. I'm still in the process of making sure Padre Klein gets his Victoria Cross for the first incident we were involved with on Yaminokuni when we decided to deliver the Urusian Imperials and the Church of Lum a combined blow to keep them out of our system before we're ready to take them on with little risk of casualties or collateral damage."

"I read about that incident. Were he a Starfleet chaplain, I would have gladly put him in for our equivalent award, the Christopher Pike Medal of Valour."

"He deserved it even if he'll deny it to his last breath."

Both captains chuckled. "You're a submariner," Picard then said as he nodded to the submarine dolphins stitched on Gamblin's naval combat jacket.

"I commanded H.M.C.S. _Ojibwa_, an Oberon-class diesel patrol sub. Before that, I served on her as well as _Okanagan_ and _Onondaga_, the other two O-boats we had at the time," Gamblin said with quiet pride. "_Ojibwa_'s rusting away in Halifax right now while a military museum in Ontario tries to get funds to get her shifted to a static display. _Okanagan_ is due to be scrapped and _Onondaga_'s a museum ship in Rimouski. Took command of _Ojibwa_ just right after I passed the Perisher . . . "

"'Perisher?'" Picard asked, and then he perked. "Ah, yes. The nickname for the Submarine Command Course; it was run by the Royal Navy of Great Britain in your time period."

"I was in the last one the Royal Navy ran before they went all-nuclear in 1995 and the Royal Netherlands Navy took over running the course for officers trained on diesel-electrics and AIPs." Gamblin then nodded towards the window, where _Arizona_ was now hovering at the port side of the large formation of starships surrounding the remnants of _Enterprise_; _Farragut_ had taken over the towing from _Haida_ when she had arrived, thus allowing the Canadian starship to fall on the starboard side of the formation as they proceeded to Starbase 105 via an intercept course to the Nexus to allow Tolian Soran to finally achieve his dream and the other soul-fragments of the El-Aurian survivors of the _Lakul_ to be extracted; Morokuzu Ryōko intended to assist with that situation. "For those navies back home who have carriers, their commanding officers have to be qualified pilots since they understand how to fight a combined air-sea war at long distances. In my eyes, now that we're in space, it's best to have submariners run the show on starships. We're always trained to work in three dimensions." A chuckle. "Tom disagrees, but it's like the question of the Northwest Passage being either internal Canadian waters or international waters as the Americans look upon it as." As Picard stared at him, he said, "We agree to disagree."

"It amazes me that you all came together so quickly."

"Well, we had a four-month lead-in time to start preparing before the Urusians and the Niphentaxians decided to be stupid. Preparations were well underway to get the core ship crews assigned when the Task Force was ordered out. The Avalonians helped out there; soon as they started settling down on Earth - especially in Canada and all the other Western nations - they flocked recruiting centres for all the services. Reserve forces everywhere are at full manning strength for a general war; we had a fully militia-only armoured brigade group with us when we went to Yaminokuni." He sighed. "It's an exciting time. For those of us who've served with old equipment, less advanced training and little funding over the years, it's a rather heady thing to experience. But we need to do it; the outside galaxy won't leave us alone. The Urusians showed us that last year as the Director and Lady Negako can explain to you."

"Hiromi already did explain it to . . . " The doorbell chimed. "Come!"

The door swooped open, revealing Deanna Troi. "Captains."

"What news, Counsellor?"

The empath took a deep breath. "The body of Captain Kirk's daughter is physically complete now, sir. General Dujduy is commencing the programming at this time. Once it's all done, Ambassador Spock will help awaken her."

"What of the captain himself?" Gamblin asked as he gazed on the empath. "I understand there are some fears about helping him come out of his coma when the nerves in his body are fully regenerated and his physical wounds all healed up."

"Admiral McCoy is hopeful for his recovery, as are the others," Troi stated. "But it will take time to repair the physical damage. And the nervous regeneration treatment offered at the Vulcan Science Academy is quite advanced." She then sat down beside the Canadian captain. "Atop that, since the captain has mind-melded with Ambassador Spock on many occasions when they were serving together, Healer T'Mir believes he could be of great help to ensure the captain does recover in the end."

"Have you talked to the Lady Negako about this?"

Both turned to gaze on Gamblin. "What could she do?" Picard asked.

Gamblin chuckled. "She is much more than just a martial artist, Captain."

* * *

_Haida_, Sick Bay . . .

"**_WHAT IN TARNATION'S NAME ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?_**"

"Leonard."

Leonard McCoy jerked on hearing that ice-cold voice as a pair of almost black eyes swept over to glare into his own. "Be silent. I am busy," Negako said.

"'**_BUSY?_**'" the aged surgeon-general snapped. "**_WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, TOUCHING HIS SKIN LIKE THAT? AT LEAST STERILISE YOUR HANDS . . .!_**"

His voice caught in his throat as Negako held up a hand and allowed ki to channel through the pours of her skin, creating a halo effect around her digits as a minute bit of steam came from them thanks to the skin oils being burned away. As the people watching this all gaped at such a display, Negako stared at McCoy, her annoyance showing in the slight edge in her voice. "Is that satisfactory for your purposes?"

McCoy blinked several times. "Wh-wh-what the hell is th-th-that, anyway?"

"I believe it is addressed in Japanese as 'ki,' Leonard," Spock - who had become privately amused at the sight of the cantankerous native of Atlanta finding out that all his ranting and raving wasn't having any affect on the ninjutsu grandmaster who was applying her ancient knowledge of shiatsu and Terran Oriental medicine to help Kirk, who was still held in suspension with his most obvious wounds expertly dressed - stated as he gazed down at what Negako was doing. "The life energy that was long theorised - and, undoubtedly within Negako's universe, long proven - to exist in all living creatures. She is allowing her ki to help regenerate the damaged elements of Jim's nervous system. Given the extent of the damage, this process would be long, but I do believe it should assist Jim in making a full and complete recovery."

"It is simple country medicine, Leonard," Negako added as she gazed briefly on the former chief medical officer of the _Enterprise_ before turning her attention back to the unconscious captain before her. "From Hokkaidō and Honshū, not from Georgia."

McCoy took that in, and then he harrumphed. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

"Leonard, if you do not wish to be treated as suffering from senility, I would suggest learning meditation and thinking before speaking out," Negako advised.

He gave her a sharp look, and then muttered, "Just as bad as an android!"

Negako shook her head as she continued to work while he headed out of the isolation room to join his friends out in the waiting area beyond the main doors to Sick Bay. A moment later, Nyota Uhura came in. "I'm sorry about that," she said.

"Do not apologise, Nyota," Negako said. "Leonard has always been set in his ways. Look at his aversion to making use of a materialiser, much less his continued effort to provoke Spock into effectively rejecting all the years he spent embracing the disciplines of his father's people just to emote." As Uhura giggled, she concentrated on one point on Kirk's neck as she forced a considerable amount of energy into that location. "He does possess a great heart and he will do all he can to save lives, even if he does not succeed, as was the case of Chancellor Gorkon before you were asked to decommission the _Enterprise_-A and James was forced out of Starfleet. But if he wishes to continue seeing himself as a viable doctor, he must learn his limitations."

"Agreed," Spock stated. In the short time he had come to know the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū, he found Negako to be so profoundly refreshing and practically rational, she was, in many ways, a fully-organic version of Data. Even more so, Negako did not seek to judge others according to others' morals. She simply stated fact and accepted all who came to her without judgement, save for when her own sensibilities or her chosen pursuit was being interrupted by useless frivolities. The purest essence of _c'thia_ as Surak himself no doubt envisioned it when he began the Reformation two millennia ago. "Perhaps it was a good thing for Leonard that he did not choose to stay. Much that I do understand his desire to 'help' me, he might eventually gain the desire to 'help' you be more human even if you will be amongst us a very short time."

"How does one define the term 'human,'" Negako mused.

"How would you define that term?"

"Greetings, Data," the grandmaster stated as the android second officer stepped inside. "I would assume that all physical preparations towards Carol's awakening are complete and she is undergoing personality programming at this time."

He nodded. "You assume correctly." He then perked. "'Carol?'"

"Will that be her name?" Uhura asked.

"Indeed," Spock answered before he gazed on Negako. "I believe you are now actually 'hearing' Jim's thoughts as you are treating him, Negako. I did not realise your telepathic capabilities possessed such great sensitivity."

"I am in no danger," Negako stated. "I may be physically 25 years old - that is the upper extent the Avalon bioroid factory can create a newborn bioroid - but my soul has been sentient for 202 years and the knowledge I possess was collected from the memories of a total of 494 ninjutsu jōnin and senior chūnin over a span of 697 years before my awakening in 1808. The self-discipline, to me, comes naturally, Spock. You need not be concerned."

The Vulcan nodded. "How is he?" Uhura asked.

"He is quite content, Nyota."

The intelligence officer blinked. "'Content?'"

"Yes. Spock did much to prepare him in case medical treatments failed and he could not be revived. He still was quite satisfied with what happened. Simon Tarses was spared from potential death, thus allowing him to continue his duties and save others." A light smile crossed Negako's face, which surprised Spock as she had told him earlier that she found expressing emotions without a practical reason a waste of energy. "He made a difference. What he was denied the chance to further do when Sean Finnegan effectively forced him out of the service in the wake of the Khitomer affair."

"Finnegan!" Uhura spat out as she remembered Jim Kirk's upperclassman at the Academy, both from the encounter with his synthetic replica on the "shore leave" planet in the Omicron Delta region of space discovered by the _Enterprise_ in 2267 . . . and the times before and after Kirk's disappearance into the Nexus twenty-six years later.

Much to the horror of many senior officers at the time, political intrigue at Starfleet Command Headquarters in San Francisco in the wake of the Khitomer affair and the revelations of the conspiracy to kill Gorkon came to force Kirk to turn in his resignation. Sean Finnegan, who had replaced William Smillie as Commander-in-Chief of the Federation's military arm in the wake of Khitomer, had made it quite clear that Kirk's "cowboy diplomacy" had no place in the Starfleet of the future, a future that looked bright thanks to the growing peace with the Klingons and the need to set out new, more politically correct (for the time period) values for those in the service.

Fortunately - in Uhura's mind - Finnegan's tenure in Starfleet's top job was short; the accident on the _Enterprise_-B and Kirk's sacrifice to save the ship bounced back hard on the men who had forced him out of the one job he had truly loved.

Thinking on that, Uhura then smiled as she remembered how that point had been slammed home when a contrite John Harriman had taken responsibility for the death of Jim Kirk in a public statement, offering to resign from the post as captain of the _Enterprise_, "As I realise I am nowhere close to being properly qualified to command a ship if I am not able to effect a proper rescue of endangered civilians even with a ship that was woefully unprepared for any sort of space manoeuvres, especially given the drive to have her commissioned as soon as possible," he said in that release.

Those words actually _saved_ Harriman's career; the public, already reeling bad at the loss of such a man as Kirk, unleashed an outpouring of support from all quarters for the younger captain at being forced to rush things by uncaring superiors who cared not for anything save public opinion polls. Finnegan and many of his cronies had been forced to resign themselves within the month, Kirk's former upperclassman replaced by Bill Smillie for a few years until Harriman's father, the famous Blackjack John Harriman of the _Constitution_, was deemed ready to get the grand admiral's baton from President Ra-ghoratreii in his last act as the Federation's head-of-state/government.

All the old veterans of the original _Enterprise_ still alive kept in touch with the younger John Harriman, who now served as an admiral and acted as Command Liaison of the Starfleet Engineering Corps, to this very day. In fact, it had been Harriman - with Uhura's help - who had organised the refitting efforts on the _Enterprise_-A to bring her to modern specifications right after Montgomery Scott reactivated his commission two years ago, another "retired" officer who still had much to contribute.

And speaking of which . . .

"How's the captain?"

A slowly recovering Montgomery Scott was now looking into the room. "He is responding to the treatments, Montgomery. Please do not interrupt me," Negako advised.

He nodded, and then stepped back as Uhura came out to join him. "C'mon, Scotty. Let's leave Jim in good hands and get some coffee in the wardroom."

"Aye! Oh, Mister Data?"

Data looked over. "Yes, Mister Scott?"

"I'm glad you got your wee one back," Scott said. "She's a wonder, that one."

"Thank you, sir," the android said. "If you wish, as soon as I am finished here, I will take you to introduce you to Private Asai Mayumi. She is the one who truly deserves credit for Lal's restoral to proper function."

A smile. "I'll be in the wardroom, lad."

With that, both Scott and Uhura were off. "How are you feeling, Commander?" Spock then asked. "I am aware that your late father prepared an emotion chip for you before his untimely death four years ago. Are you adjusting well to your new abilities?"

"I am, Ambassador, thanks very much to Ayami and the introduction of a mesonium emotional dampening buffer crystal into my central processors," Data answered. "It allows me to control my emotional outbursts, thus ensuring I am not ruled by them or overwhelmed by output from my emotion chip. It is performing well."

"Excellent," the Vulcan stated, a touch of happiness for his android friend in his voice. "So you better understand the human condition?"

"A slow but steady progression in that form. In many ways, Lal is my superior in that matter." Data smiled. "Intriguing. Negako, do you believe that proper?"

"Elaborate, Data. In what matter?"

"I feel . . . pride that my daughter has greater capabilities and has progressed far in understanding emotions, both during her initial activation period before her cascade failure, and then in the wake of Mayumi's helping her return to proper function. And . . . " He paused as he considered it for a moment, and then he added, "I do not feel any sort of negative emotion like envy of jealousy at her."

She gazed at him. "Naturally, Data. She is your offspring. Constructed by you, programmed by you and brought to life by you. Even if you did create her at a time you did not possess Noonien's final gift to you, you did NOT - under any circumstance - view Lal's creation simply as a mere 'experiment.'" She then turned back to her forcing ki into Kirk's body. "In that way, you are _my_ superior, Data."

He gazed at her. "How so?"

"I have no desire at this time to birth offspring of my own." She sighed. "I am afraid to do so, fearful of the fact that - given my abilities, which could unleash violent bouts of 'gunfighter syndrome' in other martial artists should they become more publicly known and wish to seek me out to let themselves believe they are the 'best' in the many martial arts - something might happen to threaten any child I possess."

Data considered that, and then he nodded in understanding. "I can understand such a fear, especially on your mentioning the phrase 'gunfighter syndrome.' In your universe, are there those who would seek to hurt you in such a manner?"

"There are, but I keep a vigilant eye on them."

"Do you believe their desires to challenge you in such a manner might decrease over time? That they might decide to seek a more convenient target of opportunity?"

"That is possible, but I am not precognitive, so I cannot say when."

"Perhaps proactive measures might be required."

"If I feel it necessary, I will do so. Allow me to make comment to both of you about something I - when I was in Ataru's mind - witnessed in the television episode 'Unification II' of _Star Trek - The Next Generation_, which depicted your time together on Romulus discovering the government's plot to invade Vulcan under the guise of a 'reunification' mission. Correct me if I am mistaken in quoting you both."

"Proceed," Spock bade.

"You, Spock, spoke on certain elements of Jean-Luc's behaviour as you were working together, which you compared to the standard Vulcans often strive to achieve as they master _c'thia_ in their years of adolescence. Do you remember that conversation?" At the ambassador's nod, the grandmaster then added, "You, Data, then confessed that you viewed Jean-Luc as the model you wished to emulate in becoming more human." At the second officer's nod, Negako said, "Spock, you were surprised by that, were you not?"

"I was," Spock stated. "As I told the commander, he possessed an efficient intellect, superior physical skills and no emotional impediments." He gazed on Data. "And even now, those factors still dominate your existence, Commander. The inclusion of your father's emotion chip within your central processors, while potentially disruptive, was rendered - as you stated - totally at your control thanks to Miss Hakaru's prompt assistance when _Enterprise_ made first contact with _Haida_."

"Yes, that is correct. And then you stated to me that there are members of the Vulcan race who strive all their lives to achieve what I was granted by design," Data stated. "I then commented on your parentage, then explained after you acknowledged your adherence to Vulcan social and cultural teachings that . . . "

"I had abandoned what you had sought all your life," Spock finished.

"Indeed."

"And then - after Spock was able to access Neral's personal files to learn what was happening - you, Data, then requested the right to ask a personal question," Negako stated. "After Spock acquiesced, you asked, 'As you examine your life, do you find you have missed your humanity?'" At Data's nod, the grandmaster then said, "Your response, Spock, was 'I have no regrets.' Data, you then repeated the phrase 'no regrets,' and then stated, 'That is a human expression.' Is that correct?"

"Indeed it is, Negako. The ambassador found that conclusion most fascinating."

"Indeed I did," Spock stated.

"And it was a limiting observation."

Both gazed on Negako. "How so?" Data asked.

"Because you, in saying that, tried to place limits around someone who cannot and should not be viewed by such limits," Negako stated. "Spock is more than just a part-Vulcan, part-Terran child of a diplomat named Sarek and a teacher and linguist named Amanda Grayson. Spock . . . is Spock." As Spock's eyebrow arched at that, Negako then turned to gaze on the android. "Just as you, Data . . . are Data."

"You disapprove of such descriptions," Spock noted.

"Indeed. Especially when they are used in the context of trying to view someone else in a potentially prejudiced or derogatory manner." Negako pushed through ki, and then pulled her hands back, reaching over to activate an exterior shield over the status bubble keeping Kirk alive to keep him protected. "You both, in your own ways, serve a remarkable organisation which is dedicated to the principle that _**all**_ sentient beings - and that is the _**one**_ term I would use to describe another, regardless of what they are or where they arose - are equal and deserve equal treatment without any form of social or emotional prejudice regardless of the difference of physical form. I would advise you to remember that words such as 'Vulcan,' 'human,' 'android' and the like should not have a place in the Federation of the future."

She moved to wash her hands in a nearby basin, using her ki to help cleanse them. "I will say no more at this time, but be warned of this: Your faith in what you serve will be sorely tested in the next several years by forces you cannot begin to truly comprehend. I therefore would advise you that your greatest strength will be to adhere to that core belief in the principles of what you call 'the United Federation of Planets.' That is what your future attackers will not be able to understand. And thus, never be able to take away from you regardless of the real-time situation." To Data. "Ensure Lal understands that, Data. You will do her no greater service than that as her father." To Spock. "And while James will be there to help Carol find her way in this existence, you must ensure that she also comprehends that, Spock." A sigh. "In the meantime, I am going to spend time with Mizuho understanding how connected she has become to the Staff of Gihan and how that might affect the revival of her male classmates and the other male victims of _The Program_. We will speak again."

And with that, she stepped out of the isolation room. Spock and Data watched her go, and then exchanged a look. "She is most intriguing," the android noted.

"Indeed, she is quite fascinating. In the meantime, let us inform Doctor Cooper of what has happened, then I must see to Carol," the Vulcan stated. "I will then also wish to meet this Private Asai who assisted in your daughter's restoral."

"I will take you there."

Both then stepped out of the isolation room . . .

* * *

The main observation lounge, a half-hour later . . .

"Oh, there you two are! It's about time!"

"About time for _what_, Padre?" Brian Gamblin asked as he and Jean-Luc Picard walked up to join Vincent Klein and his wife Alice - along with Beverly Crusher, much to the surprise of the commanding officer of _Enterprise_ - at the main entrance to the stairs that led up to the observation lounge a deck up. "What's going on?"

"Go see for yourself," Crusher said as she nodded updeck.

The two captains exchanged a look, and then turned to head upstairs . . .

. . . before stopping, their jaws dropping in shock.

"So you're not mad at me, Shūya-kun?"

"No, I'm not mad at you, Yūko-chan."

As the two captains took in the sight of the four young women from the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic - all of whom had been joined by the ghostly figures of twenty-one young MEN their age, all dressed in black boy's gakuran uniforms! - Sakaki Yūko gushed as she moved to hug the image of a lanky young man with spiky brown-hair, a very infectious smile and deep brown eyes. Realising that in that case, the images were quite solid enough to be touched, the _Enterprise_'s captain then took a moment to glance around before he noticed a certain device being held by Inada Mizuho, the young would-be warrior-priestess now in some sort of meditative trance as she was watched over by quite a large fellow - in comparison to his classmates, who were rather average-sized for young Japanese men of that time period - possessing a very kindly face, dark brown eyes and wavy grey-brown hair. "Is she alright?" Picard asked.

"She is well, Jean-Luc," a familiar toneless voice declared as the conversation in the lounge mostly stopped, people turning to gaze his way. "Yoshio is keeping a close eye on Mizuho to ensure the strain of her allowing her male classmates to join us - even if only in semi-solid spirit form - does not overwhelm her."

"Yo, Boss! Sempai! Sugi!" a rather tough-looking man seated with a group of equally tough-looking fellows - Picard then remembered there was a "gang" of young men in the cast of _Battle Royale_ who had been lead by the male antagonist of the story - then called out as he looked over to one part of the room. There, Moroboshi Hiromi was sitting with two fellows, one a slender man with very slicked-back grey-highlighted black hair and very cold blue eyes, the other a muscular fellow with long-flowing brown hair - much longer than what most of his classmates possessed - and blue eyes showing the profound wisdom of an experienced warrior. To Picard's surprise, Worf was also present; the security officer was currently off-watch. "The captains're here!"

Hiromi looked over. "Ah, Jean-Luc! Brian! Come join us!" she called out.

The two men came over as the conversations resumed. "How is this possible, Hiromi?" Picard asked as he moved to sit down beside the reborn emperor, Gamblin moving to sit to her other side. A quick glance to Mizuho later, he commented, "I thought the Staff needed time to replenish its energy before it could be used again."

"The ability to allow us to assume quasi-physical form is a very minute drain on the Staff's overall power, Captain," the young man with the cold eyes - Picard was then quick to realise this was Kiriyama Kazuo himself - stated in a voice that nearly matched Moroboshi Negako's with its lack of tone. "Besides, while I myself am somewhat fearful of returning to full physical form - despite all the others understanding why I chose to participate in _The Program_ - my male classmates desire every chance they can get to 'get out and stretch their legs,' so to speak. Not to mention spend time with our female classmates. Especially people like Hiroki here and Kazuhiko seated close to Shinji and Negako-san." He nodded in the direction of a handsome young man almost as tall as Akamatsu Yoshio, who was conversing with a slender yet quite athletic fellow with slicked-back black hair - though not as long as Kazuo's - and earrings hooped on his lower lobes. Both of them were occupying the same table as Negako, though the ninjutsu grandmaster was not participating in their conversation; she, like Mizuho, appeared to be meditating.

Picard perked. "Ah, yes! Mister Sugimura and Mister Yamamoto." A nod to the fellow beside Kazuo, who nodded politely back. "I recall you both have girlfriends; while I haven't had the chance to read the full manga series, I did read the synopsis Tsukihana prepared for our perusal." He directly focused on Sugimura Hiroki. "And I must also say, Mister Sugimura, your actions during your participation in _The Program_ were quite commendable. Even if your heart was locked on both Miss Kotohiki and Miss Chigusa, you also acted with great concern for all your classmates."

"It was not an honourable time for any of us, Captain," Hiroki noted.

"Still, you fought honourably, Hiroki," Worf advised. "Even if you were not 'rescued' by the fellow who possessed the Staff at the time your souls were brought into the Director's home dimension and your souls were allowed to enter _Stovoqor_, you would have been welcomed with honour. All of you," he added as he gazed on Kazuo. "What you were forced into is something not even the most passionate of MY race would condone."

"Still, it's kinda nice that we know the universe of _Star Trek_ does exist."

Eyes turned as Mimura Shinji came up to join them. "Indeed, Shinji-san, it is quite wonderful that something as noble in deed and belief as the United Federation of Planets exists," Hiromi said as the basketball player sat down beside Hiroki. "Not like the 'federation of lies' that we are forced to be neighbours with back home."

"Because of what the Niphentaxians did to the Avalonians?" Picard asked.

"Among other things. There is a woman in my universe, Shogai Dakejinzō. A woman born of an unknown race that lived five million years ago. She was found frozen in a drifting ship over seventy years ago, then adopted by the current president of Fukunokami, Shigaten Benten's homeworld. And she is, in effect, our universe's direct counterpart to any one of the Questors in your own." A shake of the head. "She is fully accepted by all civilised races in our part of the galaxy as a sentient being . . . and she, unlike Master Data, did not have to go through some 'hearing' to have her sentience and full rights as a sentient being officially recognised as such." Hiromi then sighed. "Look at the Avalonians. They are _fully organic_ and can mother the child of any compatible male natural-born organic, right from Vos to Yehisril and even all the way out to Dominos and Hustaros . . . and save for wise men such as Elder Ganzo, were seen by all Niphentaxians - and no doubt, those of other races that knew of the Avalonians - as mere machines." Another shake of the head. "Hypocrites."

"Just like the Greater East Asia Republic's leadership," Kazuo then said.

"What do you mean?" Gamblin asked.

"I am from a wealthy family, Captain," the young gang leader reported. "Unlike most of my peers, I did have considerable access to outside news reports. _The Program_ has been negatively commented on by our neighbours and other nations on many occasions since it first began to be televised and outside intelligence agencies discovered the truth of what was happening. Time and time again, the Republic's leadership has stated that all those made to participate in _The Program_ VOLUNTEERED to put their lives on the line to prove their strength to serve in the military when they became mature enough to do so. Try as international agencies such as the United Nations and the International Red Cross could to make them see reason, nothing succeeded. Save for the odd time that there have been other escape attempts by previous groups which have managed to get to Korea and were rescued by their armed forces once they got past Tsu-shima. If things had gone differently for our particular program, we might . . . "

"Yo, Boss! Cut it out, huh?" Numai Mitsuru said as he and the others of Kazuo's gang - the short and blond Sasagawa Ryūhei, the effeminate Tsukioka Shō and the overweight and bespectacled Kuronaga Hiroshi - looked over. "What happened happened, Boss! You couldn't decide which way to go; the accident that killed your mom turned off your emotions, remember? Don't worry about the 'what could have beens,' alright?"

A faint trace of a smile then appeared on Kazuo's face. "I have you all to keep reminding me of that, Mitsuru," he stated before gazing at Picard.

"Your friends are remarkably loyal to you, Mister Kiriyama," the _Enterprise_'s captain noted.

"They are." A touch of hoarseness appeared briefly in the younger man's voice, and then he perked as Hiroki reached over to squeeze his shoulder in reassurance.

"So what were you talking about with them?" Gamblin then asked as he gazed on Hiromi. "I would assume, Director, you want some sort of military action by us when we penetrate into the kids' birth universe to go look in on their friends."

"Nothing too overt or too destructive, my good captain," the reborn emperor promised. "There are many - Shinji-san's aunt being one - in the Greater East Asia Republic that fight to put a full stop to _The Program_ once and for all. Still, I am only in the beginning stages of such planning. I was learning of the general situation in our guests' birth-universe when you came in. Kazuo-san, please continue," she then bade the would-have-been winner of Shiroiwa Junior High School Class 3-B's episode of _The Program_. "What exactly is the state of the so-called 'Greater East Asia Republic' . . . " - Hiroki and Shinji smirked on hearing the tone of disgust and derision in her voice on saying those words - " . . . at this time?"

"Actually, quite precarious. Can the table's holographic imaging system project a map of the Pacific Ocean basin, from Siberia down to Australia, west of the International Date Line?"

Hiromi tapped controls to bring up a 2D map of the region in question. "Now, highlight the following areas," Kazuo bade. "The Japanese home islands, including Tsu-shima. Karafuto. The Chishima-rettō. The Ryūkyū-shotō. The Kazan-rettō, Ogasawara-guntō and Izu-shotō. Formosa and the Pescadore Islands. The Mariana Islands, including Guam. The Caroline Islands. The Marshall Islands. The Gilbert Islands. And the Philippines and the Palau Islands, though most of those areas were under open rebellion at the time we were forced into _The Program_ in mid-2000; only Luzon north of a line from the northern end of Manila Bay to Dingalan Bay was firmly under Tōkyō's control, though that was receding thanks to the Philippine Liberation Front."

Hiromi hummed. "Save for what we would call Indonesia and Malaysia - not to mention New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and what were once French Indochina as well as Thailand and Burma, plus the eastern parts of China and Korea - this is what Imperial Japan had under its control around the time of the Battle of Midway in the middle of 1942."

"What went differently?" Gamblin asked.

"From what we and the girls overheard other Avalonians speak of aboard the factory about the history of your Earth - not to mention what we could tap into from both the _Freedom_ and the factory into the Internet - I believe the point of divergence was the attack on Pearl Harbour," Kazuo stated. "In your history, Nagumo-chūjō stopped the attack after the second wave. In ours, he pressed a third attack which destroyed or badly damaged the port facilities, especially the oil storage yards, the ammunition depots, the repair yards and other support elements of the base. Atop that, they found the carriers _Enterprise_ and _Lexington_ close to the Hawai'ian Islands, both then being attacked and sunk before they could mount a serious challenge to the Imperial forces. By doing that, Nagumo-chūjō virtually shut down Pearl as an active military base for over a year as well as stripped America of a third of its active carrier fleet; only _Saratoga_, _Yorktown_, _Hornet_ and _Wasp_ remained. This forced the Americans to withdraw to their western coast to regroup and rebuild while the Imperial forces virtually ran rampant over the western Pacific basin. The battles of the Coral Sea and Midway effectively finished off what active forces the Americans could deploy in the region for over two years, especially their remaining carriers."

"That would have delayed it for a couple of years, but not fully tilted it to Japan's favour," the Canadian captain warned. "What else happened?"

"Biological warfare," Hiroki stated. "You know of Unit 731, don't you?"

Hiromi scowled. "I do. I assumed this was used in combination with the balloon bombs that were launched as part of Operation Fūgo."

"That started much earlier than what happened in your universe, Sempai," Hiroki explained. "The commanders of Unit 731 convinced the army leaders that it would be both tactically smart and strategically sound to use biological agents to spread plague over the western areas of North America as a way of disrupting the war effort. Our version of Operation Fūgo started right after Midway." As the reborn emperor nodded - in her own universe, that operation hadn't been launched until November 1944, long after the invasion of the Philippines and the effective destruction of most of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Battle of Leyte Gulf - the young martial artist added, "Several balloons got VERY lucky. One hit Los Alamos in New Mexico."

"The heart of the Manhattan Engineering District," Picard stated. "Where the Americans - with British and Canadian help - were developing nuclear weapons."

"Hai," Hiroki affirmed with a nod. "However, learning about the use of bio-warfare caused a rather strange reaction in Germany at the time. Adolf Hitler - who had experienced chemical warfare in the First World War - wouldn't condone an ally using similar weapons against defenceless civilians. Winston Churchill got wind of the Führer's change of heart, then convinced Franklin Roosevelt and Josef Stalin to drop the 'unconditional surrender' demand they had made on the Axis to convince Hitler and Benito Mussolini to switch sides. Or, at least, allow a temporary European cease-fire so that more resources could be poured into the Pacific. Crazy as this sounds - especially when you keep in mind what ELSE was happening in Europe at the time! - it actually worked. And since the Soviets had spies in the Manhattan Project, their own atom bomb makers teamed up with the Germans working on their own project to detonate a test bomb in what today is Kazakhstan in 1944. But they didn't realise one thing."

"Japan's own atomic weapons program," Gamblin stated.

"Yes," Kazuo stated. "With the puppet government in Manchukuo - not to mention local governments in most of the occupied territories - the Imperial government convinced local leaders throughout the western Pacific to support them in their drive to achieve nuclear weapons capability. The first Imperial test bomb was detonated in the Marshall Islands - ironically, at Pikinni Atoll; you know it as Bikini Atoll - within a week of the Soviet's first test in Kazakhstan."

"A nuclear stand-off," Picard stated.

"The Cuban Missile Crisis, this time eighteen years earlier," Gamblin added.

"You got it," Shinji answered. "The Greater East Asia War might have ended in mutual destruction hadn't the Imperial government revealed what they knew about the Holocaust the Nazis were unleashing in Europe, putting the news out everywhere, especially in those places where support for 'Uncle Adolf' had started to pick up because he didn't like bio-bombs or chemical warfare. That made the Allies turn on Hitler - with Mussolini staying neutral since he never really cared for that - and take the heat off Japan. But before they got pitched off their thrones in Berlin by their own army to stop the war, the Nazis decided to nail us 'Japs' real hard."

"How?" Hiromi asked.

"Two V-2s launched from sea platforms towed there by U-boats. Thirty-kiloton load each," Shinji stated. "Tōkyō and Kyōto both glowed in the dark."

Silence.

"The Imperial Family was murdered en masse," Hiromi then concluded.

"And with no clear immediate relative to take the place of the Shōwa Emperor, a 'republic' - in effect, a virtual copy of how the Nazis constructed their 'thousand year Reich' without the racism - was formed in his memory, with support from across the western Pacific due to the mass civilian deaths and the radiation sickness cases that followed the V-2 attacks," Kazuo finished. "The Greater East Asia Republic. And they made sure that their own nuclear designs were spread to Korea, China, Indochina, Thailand, Burma and Indonesia - as a 'gift' to entice them to continue to support their former conquerors when they were granted independence as part of the late Shōwa Emperor's 'heartfelt desire for total freedom from Western enslavement' - to make sure the European powers, to say anything of America or Russia, couldn't rush back in."

"And it's been a standoff ever since," Shinji added.

Silence fell as Hiromi considered that, and then she sighed. "Shinji-san, how well-developed are the modern strategic defences of the Republic and their allies?"

"Air-launched missiles and gravity bombs, intercontinental ballistic missiles from land silos and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The Republic really likes the last type, especially given what happened in early 1945," Shinji stated. "Even though our 'allies' don't care at all for _The Program_ - and the Republic doesn't press them on it whenever people escape to China or Korea since they eventually decide to move on to America or Russia like Shūya and Noriko-chan did after our episode - they don't like the West. Period."

The director of the Earth Defence Force nodded, and then she gazed on the captain of _Haida_. "Well, my dear captain, you and your crew may get to live the dream of every Canadian sailor, soldier and air serviceman who swore the oath to the Crown and put on the uniform from 1945 to 1991 within the next while."

Gamblin blinked. "How so?"

"When we get there, you may be needed to use the ship's weapons to totally strip the entire Pacific basin - INCLUDING China, Korea and all mainland allies of the Republic but EXCLUDING America and Russia - of their weapons of mass destruction. ALL of them."

The Canadian captain blinked as he took that in while Kazuo, Hiroki and Shinji were nodding in agreement and a worried look crossed Jean-Luc Picard's face . . .

* * *

Meanwhile, in Hiromi's guest quarters . . .

"_**WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?**_"

The other tōshi school leaders who had come with _Arizona_ to look for _Haida_ ducked at the horrified shout from Koro Sonami, and then Mago Tsueko shrugged. "It's true, Ryūbi-chan. Kirk-taisa was hurt when he saved some of the people on the _Enterprise_ after those dork Klingons blew up the starboard impulse drive!"

Behind the leader of Seito, Seki Haneko, Haru Asumi and Koeru Kumomi all winced as they gave the leader of Nan'yō weary looks; much that they themselves were quite upset that Jim Kirk had been so badly hurt - especially Asumi - they knew that their leader had quite the warm and caring heart and wouldn't take such news with the proper level of stoicism that it deserved. Before they could say anything, Sonami then turned to glare at them. "Why was I _**not**_ told about this?" she then snarled out, making them all wince.

Asumi sighed. "Look, Gentoku! It ain't fatal even if it is bad! McCoy-sensei says that all they have to do is get Kirk-taisa over to Vulcan where they can regenerate up his spine, then fix up the rest of the mess! He'll be back on his feet in two weeks!"

"And with a daughter as well," Kumomi added.

Sonami jolted. "Eh?"

"One of those Questors we've heard so much about recently," Haneko explained.

The leader of Seito considered that, and then she seemed to deflate on herself. "But still . . . " she breathed out, and then she perked. "Wait! What about the DNA recombinant therapy Kyech-san brought with her to Yaminokuni to help Suguta-san?" She pointed to Tadasu Suguta in emphasis. "We can give that to him!"

"There are no supplies of it on either _Haida_ or _Arizona_," Asumi said.

"Can't it be synthesized?"

"Of course it can, Gentoku!" Haneko stated. "But don't forget, if WE synthesize it, we'll be using materials from OUR dimension! Especially the meson that goes into the drug! If we inject THAT into Kirk-taisa, in a year's time . . . "

"Every one of the poor man's cells will be badly disrupted as the meson that originated in our dimension phases back," Kumomi finished. "If that doesn't kill the captain right off, he'll be badly weakened, perhaps permanently. Practically like he is now."

"What about using the meson synthesized on _Enterprise_?" Sonami snapped with an annoyed tone, surprised that no one had considered _that_.

"It's a mess over there!" Haneko stated. "Atop their having to put the labs back together again - as well as losing the labs that were in the secondary hull when the warp core went - they have to dredge up all the computer data as well! And the first priority is the other El-Aurians still in the Nexus! Did you forget them?"

Sonami jerked, and then she slumped. "He can't die . . . "

A hand landed on her shoulder. "Of course he can't, Ryūbi," Sebone Mimōko stated. "We all know - even those of us who didn't pay as much attention to _Deep Space Nine_ and _Voyager_ as you did - what's coming for the Federation."

"Another Borg attack on Earth in two years," Tsukasa Torusuke stated. "Atop that, the Dominion War is going to get started in earnest around the same time. It'll last two years, nearly breaking up the alliance between the Federation and the Klingons along the way." A sigh. "And there's the whole thing with all the Delta Quadrant races as _Voyager_ herself is trying to get home throughout that whole time."

"They'll need all the experienced captains they can get their hands on," Mimōko stated. "And Kirk-taisa is certainly that." She then hummed. "Atop that . . . "

"What, Mō-chan?" Tsueko asked.

"What happens if or when the Founders find out about _us_, Sonsaku?"

People blinked, and then moans escaped many of the tōshi there. "That's a good point," Haneko mused. "This whole contact between us and _Enterprise_ is going to be public Starfleet record soon enough, if it already hasn't become that."

"And given the certain technological advantages we possess - plus the ease by which _Arizona_ was able to breach the dimensional barriers to come after _Haida_ - what is to stop the Founders from trying to seek battle with us, even if it just to prevent us from trying to assist the Federation?" Kumomi added. "Section 31 is unknown to them at this time. Coming to our universe and viewing the specific television episodes of _Deep Space Nine_ will forewarn them of the group's attempts to use a virus to attack the Founders directly." A shake of the head. "We must ensure that doesn't happen."

"There are two things we must do, then."

Eyes locked on Morokuzu Ryōko. "What's that?" Torusuke asked.

"One: We must pass on copies of every episode of _Deep Space Nine_ and _Voyager_ to General Dujduy and High Councillor Heva," the young strategist from Seito advised. "They have a friend who is the true leader of Section 31, who ALSO has a friend who is highly connected in the Obsidian Order; we could ask Master Spock to deliver them to Section 31 if we have to. If they are ALL forewarned of what is coming, they could not only prevent the high civilian casualties - especially on Cardassia Prime itself - they could also seek out whichever Founders might have infiltrated their governments to eliminate them before they cause any real trouble." A sigh. "The second is something we must do, even if we are reluctant to do it."

"Get Hiromi to let go of her hatred of the Sagussans to get them on board."

Eyes locked on the leader of Kyoshō. "Why, Sō-chin?" Tsueko asked; she had altered her nickname for her counterpart from Kanagawa shortly after they had met.

The handsome senior smirked. "Has anyone ever heard of the Eliminator?" At the others shook their heads in response, he sighed. "It's the Gatherer's sistership. As we all know by now, the Gatherer is the ship that has been seeding Sagussa over the last ten millennia with reborn and fully-regenerated women to serve as the _Daishi'cha_, the first generation of mothers of the new 'fifth race' to populate that world. As we also know, the Gatherer took Hiromi's brother to Sagussa when he was six, just before her soul and Negako's soul got fired into his head and fractured his own soul to eventually allow Tariko to live as a separate person." As people nodded, he added, "Bunjaku told me of this ship. He - the controlling computer has a male personality - is a ten-kilometre long version of _Haida_ and her sisterships, save for the addition of a twin-barrel anti-proton cannon system similar to what the planet-killer in 'The Doomsday Machine' had."

"Oh, you mean that big ship that looks like a silver ice cream cone?" Tsueko asked.

"The one that wrecked the _Constellation_," he affirmed with a nod. "Now, the Gatherer's central computer is rather quite nice and friendly. HOWEVER, he also has a sistership. The Eliminator. And that ship - the same size and same capabilities - was programmed as a pure _war machine_." As the others gaped at him, the leader of Kyoshō smirked. "Could you imagine what could happen if the Founder's homeworld was threatened by a ship that could blast it into rubble . . . with _**one shot?**_"

The other tōshi blinked as they took that in . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	15. The Dragon of the Federation

Sick Bay, later . . .

"So how bad is he?"

"Negako-san has managed to do a lot to start the nerve regeneration," Hana Hokaji mused as he examined the unconscious and severely wounded captain in his isolation room. While the doctor's own ki senses had been well-developed and honed thanks to the fifteen incarnations his soul had lived since the time of Huà Tuó during the last years of the Latter Hàn Dynasty, he didn't have the massive amount of ki stored up in his own body that Negako had in hers. And while he had a very good idea how to repair the considerable physical damage Jim Kirk had experienced, he knew he didn't have the necessary energy to affect such repairs and keep the man alive. Others, however, did. "No doubt, she was either planning to do this herself or wait for us to come assist her; she's not the type to throw away good ki without keeping something in reserve."

"You'd need our dragons to help out," Torusuke concluded. He, Sonami, Tsueko, Mimōko, Ryōko and Kumomi were present, as was the other tōshi who possessed a haoryū within her, Torusuke's girlfriend and number-two at Kyoshō Tsukasame Yoiko (Shiba'i Chūtatsu). Standing guard at the doorway to ensure no interruptions was Sakan Somumi (Ten'i Orai), Yoiko's passionate follower, her crossbow at the ready and an arrow notched into the string. "It should be easy enough. His own life-link is strong."

"Agreed, it is," Hokaji said. "Alright. Are you ready?"

Torusuke and Tsueko immediately nodded. Sonami took a deep breath, and then she slowly exhaled. "I'm ready," she said, echoed by nods from the others.

He nodded. "Alright. Here we go . . . "

Summoning his own ki, he then moved to force what he could into Kirk's body . . .

* * *

The Ship Special Systems Workshop . . .

" . . . and so, these lines you see in the crystals . . . "

A gargled intake of breath made Asai Mayumi's head snap over. "Ambassador!" she cried out as the Vulcan - looking as if someone had just stabbed him deep in his own heart - suddenly collapsed to the deck. Immediately, the Terran-form Avalonian technician was at his side as she reached for his face, sending a quick mind-probe into Spock's brain to ascertain what is happening. One look was enough. "Lyna . . .!"

"What's happenin', lass?" Montgomery Scott said as Data knelt beside them, a tricorder out as he moved to scan the Vulcan's vital signs.

"It appears that Hana-sensei is attempting to use the ki of those of Onē-sama's friends who have haoryū in them to effect the repairs to Kirk-taisa's body, Scott-taisa," she said as she slowly pulled her hand away from Spock. "The ambassador wasn't prepared for the psychic backlash of such a massive infusion of ki." She then reached into her smock pocket and pulled out her communicator. "Computer, locate Deanna Troi."

"_Commander Troi is in the wardroom_."

"Acknowledged. Asai to Wardroom."

"Wardroom, Nozoe here."

"Chiemi-chan, is the counsellor alright?"

"Hai! We know what's going on in Sick Bay now. Miku-chan got to her and put her into a healing trance to prevent her empathic senses from overloading."

"I'm alright, Mayumi . . . " came the weak voice of the counsellor in question.

Mayumi breathed out. "Wonderful! Computer, locate Elder Mother Guinan."

"_The Elder Mother is in the Chief and Petty Officer's Mess_."

"Locate Doctor Tolian Soran."

"_The doctor is in the Chief and Petty Officer's Mess_."

"Acknowledged. Asai to Chief's Mess. Anyone there?"

"Chief's Mess, Beaulieu here. What's the matter, Mayumi?"

"Sorry to bother you, Chief, but are the Elder Mother Guinan and Thoughtmaster-prime Soran alright? The tōshi are starting to work on Captain Kirk now . . . "

"We're fine, Mayumi," Guinan's voice - a little shaky, Mayumi was quick to note - stated. "What's happening, anyway? How are they healing the captain?"

"A massive ki infusion thanks to those of Onē-sama's friends who have haoryū in them, Elder Mother, all directed by the doctor into the places he needs it. They have the ki energy to spare for him."

"That's quite impressive," Soran then stated. "I didn't realise that Terrans in your universe possessed such capabilities. Or is this an Avalonian power?"

Mayumi smiled. "The power of faith is universal regardless of species, Thoughtmaster-prime."

A chuckle. "So it seems."

People turned as Spock moved to straighten himself. "Are ye alright, sir?" Scott asked as he and Nyota Uhura helped the ambassador up.

"Now I am, thanks to the private here," the Vulcan reported as the Avalonian got back to her feet. "You have my thanks, Mayumi. You possess a healer's touch; I doubt even the most experienced healers on my world could have done better. Perhaps you might reconsider your future in the Canadian Forces and pursue a career as a doctor, a nurse or a medical technician to eventually become a physician assistant."

She hummed as she considered that, and then she shrugged. "I will consider same, Ambassador. But right now, my technical expertise is something Onē-sama and Her Majesty the Queen requires more, so I'll stay a 'jimmy' at this time."

Uhura perked in recognition. "'Jimmy?'"

"The Communications and Electronics Branch of the Canadian Forces, Nyota," Spock explained. "The term 'jimmy' - that is the nickname bestowed on the image of the old Roman god Mercury that is emblazoned on their hat badge and collar crests - is also applied to those who are members of the branch. Mayumi plans to be an aerospace telecommunication and information systems technician, which is a communications support trade of the Royal Canadian Air Force."

The former communications officer of the first two starships named _Enterprise_ and now intelligence admiral nodded. "Oh, that's where I remember that name!"

"Well, at least I won't wind up a rubberhead," Mayumi stated before tapping her communicator again. "Asai to Sunaga. Tomomi-chan, are you off-shift now?"

"Hai, Mayumi," Sunaga Tomomi called back from her private cabin in the area where _Haida_'s fire fighters were located. "Is there something wrong?"

"Ambassador Spock was overtaken by the ki now pouring out of Onē-sama's friends as they're moving to heal Kirk-taisa in Sick Bay. I need to take time to shut down some equipment here. He wants to make sure the captain is alright. Can you come to the workshop to escort him there?"

"On my way."

Spock looked surprised. "That is not . . . "

"Ambassador, have you ever encountered a dragon in your lifetime?"

The Vulcan nodded. "Actually, I did encounter a creature on the planet Berengaria VII that is addressed as a 'dragon.' They are quite physically similar to the legends of such creatures on Earth, especially in medieval Europe . . . "

"Then you have **_not_** encountered a haoryū," Mayumi concluded as the doors to the workshop opened to reveal Sunaga Tomomi, a very beautiful woman in the classic Oriental sense with long deep lavender hair and steely grey eyes. "Ah, Tomomi-chan."

"I assume this will be a 'first contact' of sorts between the races of the Federation and a spirit-dragon?" the fire fighter dryly mused.

"Indeed. Would you make sure the ambassador is protected just in case?"

"But of course. Ambassador?"

Spock nodded as he followed the other woman out of the room. "Are they dangerous?" Uhura then asked as she, Scott and Data gazed on their host.

Mayumi adjusted her glasses. "They are not dangerous if they are approached with both respect and calm, Admiral. But they are quite curious . . . and there are times they don't understand the full level of their psychic strength. That is the one of the determents of being bound to teenage martial artists."

The two humans and the android all blinked . . .

* * *

Sick Bay . . .

"My God . . . what is that boy doing?"

"A much swifter version of whatever process you planned to do to the captain when you got him to the Science Academy, Doctor. Without the need of totally shutting down his involuntary nervous system to do the neuron regeneration," Elaine Cooper mused as she and Leonard McCoy monitored what was going on from the doctor's office. Also there were Beverly Crusher and _Arizona_'s chief doctor, Commander Jennifer Turner.

"Look how fast he's knitting the bones back together again," Crusher said, the awe in her voice quite apparent to the other medical officers. "It's a pity we lost so much traditional medical knowledge in the Third World War. If we had this . . . "

"Unless you had contact with beings like a haoryū or a ch'uokyek, Beverly, I doubt you'd be able to knit the captain together that fast," Turner mused.

McCoy perked. "'Ch'uokyek?'"

"Noukiite spirit-dragons. Like the beings fused in those kids right now, but they're double the size of _Haida_ at adulthood and can live for thousands of years," Cooper provided. "Sometimes, they're quite helpful. Sometimes, a pain in the butt."

The retired surgeon-general snorted. "Sounds like most Vulcans I know."

Cooper and Turner exchanged looks, and then they giggled, which made Crusher look curiously at them, wondering what was so funny . . .

* * *

"Dad . . .?"

A pair of deep hazel eyes opened as Carol Miramanee Kirk took a deep breath, her head slightly swaying to and fro as she took in what was around her now. A bright yet closed-off space with what clearly was some sort of medical equipment on a table to her right. The feel of a diagnostic bed under her back and buttocks, plus the fluffy feel of a blanket over her up to just below her breasts. And a medical gown of some sort wrapped around her body.

"Little one . . . "

She turned on hearing that voice . . .

. . . and then relaxed as a very attractive Klingon woman appearing to be in her early twenties - whom Carol automatically realised was _not_ a real Klingon - came up to her. "General . . . " she breathed out as information about this woman poured into her mind from some part of her soul she didn't realise she had before. "Dad . . . "

She was quick to sense the concern in the older woman's dark eyes as she peered intently at her for a moment. "How did you awaken so quickly?" Dujduy then demanded. "You needed Spock to properly awaken you. What is wrong with you, child?"

Carol shook her head. "I don't know. I was meditating as you programmed me to do, but then I felt Dad close by and my body automatically woke up. What's going on . . .?"

Dujduy looked over. "Heva?"

The newly-woken Terran-form Questor turned to look as a beautiful Romulan woman - another elder Questor, she realised - stepped out of the isolation room to look over. Her eyes then widened before she gazed back. "You have to SEE this . . .!"

Instantly, Carol was on her feet and lunging for the door, ignoring the fact that the hospital gown around her wasn't properly tied down and she was about to give a few people a cheap thrill if she wasn't careful. She leaned out through the doorway before Heva could stop her, and then her eyes went REALLY wide on seeing the massive light show leaking out the open door of a nearby room, which was guarded by a young teenager in some sort of school uniform, a very advanced compound bow in hand with an arrow notched into the string. As her mind moved to take in the tactical situation and help her decide what to do next, a familiar cry of pain then echoed from the other room. Instantly, Carol lunged past Heva to race over . . .

. . . and then she cried out as the VERY strong arms of a tall woman snared her around the waist, pinning her own arms against her side as she was lifted right off the deck. "HEY! LET ME GO!" she screamed out as she tried to force her way out of that embrace, and then she gasped as the girl who had been guarding the door spun on her, drawing the bow to full extent as the end of that arrow locked in on Carol's forehead.

"Ten'i, don't. This is the captain's daughter."

Carol stopped, and then she looked over her shoulder . . .

. . . into the face of a smiling woman a couple years older than the girl with the bow. Possessing short-cut, shaggy green-tinted black hair and the warmest sea-blue eyes that Carol - either as herself or as her father - had ever encountered, the other woman seemed to project a motherly quality about her, which made the just-woken Questor relax herself. "Do not be concerned, Carol-chan," the tall - and she was remarkably tall for a human - woman said in a very kind voice as she placed Carol down onto the deck, and then she moved to help straighten the medical gown. "Kada-sensei won't allow your father to die. He's in very good hands right now."

"What's happening . . .?" Carol hissed as another moan of pain escaped from the isolation room holding her father. "That sounds like Dad did when he was being treated for that radiation plague he encountered on Gamma Hydra IV . . . "

Hearing that, both Somumi and Bakari Choko (Kyocho Chūkō) perked as they tried to recall where they had heard that planet name before, and then the latter nodded. "'The Deadly Years,'" she then stated. As Carol stared in confusion at her, the Kyoshō girl's volleyball team striker added for her friend's benefit, "It was the episode where Kirk-taisa, Spock-chūsa, McCoy-sensei, Scott-shōsa and one of the others in the crew of the _Enterprise_ were infected by radiation from a comet that accelerated their aging process, Ten'i. They eventually needed to use some sort of adrenaline booster to force what happened to their bodies to reverse themselves before the Romulans destroyed the _Enterprise_ because a base commander had taken the ship into the Neutral Zone."

Somumi nodded. "Oh . . . "

"Carol."

Carol perked, and then looked over before grinning. "Spock!"

A smiling Choko allowed the Questor to pull away from her so she could run over and embrace the just-arrived ambassador, who was accompanied by one of the ship's fire fighters, the samurai-like Sunaga Tomomi, who was modelled on a character of the same game that Asai Mayumi, the Air Force private that had helped restore Data's daughter Lal - whom Choko thought was so beautiful - to life again, was modelled on. Much to the volleyball team player's surprise, the Vulcan did not react as the Terran-form Questor hugged him, not even with a "Please, not in front of the . . . " comment like he had made to Kirk himself on the bridge of the Klingon scout ship _oQrona_ as was depicted in the fifth _Star Trek_ movie _The Final Frontier_. As Carol started to cry, Spock moved to comfort her, though he was quick to assure Tomomi with a nod after she had given him a concerned look. The fire fighter then came over to stand beside the two Kyoshō tōshi. "How is Kirk-taisa right now?" she asked.

"He endures," Somumi stated. "Kada-sensei is guiding Sōsō-sama, Ryūbi-sama and Sonsaku-sama into allowing their dragons to pour ki into Kirk-taisa's body to heal him. Ryomō-sama, Shokatsuryō-sama, Chōun-sama and Shiba'i-onēsama are assisting . . . "

Just as she said that, the moaning cry from inside the isolation room suddenly was cut off . . . and then the glowing energy that was escaping through the open doorway (which actually had a sterile barrier installed there to ensure no infectious organisms or other such contaminants could get within) faded. Somumi spun around as she moved to look inside, and then she set her bow and arrow aside as she reached in to help a staggering Tsukasame Yoiko out of the room. The second-year high school student that served as her lover's chief strategist looked tired and haggard, but was on her feet. "Onē-sama . . . " Somumi gasped as people emerged from the doctor's office, one of them moving to get a chair shifted over so that Yoiko could sit down. "How . . .?"

Yoiko gave her beloved assistant a reassuring smile before she turned to gaze on Spock, her normally grey eyes still glowing, both her irises slit like a dragon's. "**Your friend has a dragon within him, Master Spock**," she stated in the echoing voice of her dragon-self, Gāozǔ. "**We were happy to help our brother properly awaken to aid your friend and heal himself finally so he can command and defend all you love from what threatens you in the future!**" Another deep breath before the glow in Yoiko's eyes faded, and then she closed them for a moment. Spock then took notice of the tattoos on both her arms, which also had stopped glowing. "He'll be fine, Ambassador . . . " she then said in her normal voice. "Now that you've given him something to live for now . . . "

She nodded to Carol, who looked ready to break down and cry again. "You have our thanks, Madame Tsukasame," Spock then stated. "Can Jim . . .?"

People then perked on hearing sobs . . .

. . . and then they turned to see Mago Tsueko and Sebone Mimōko help a weeping Koro Sonami out of the room. Following them was a concerned Morokuzu Ryōko and a tired but still-strong Tsukasa Torusuke and Koeru Kumomi. "Take her to her cabin so she can sleep," the leader of Kyoshō then advised his counterpart from Nan'yō and her friend. "Tell Kan'u and Chōhi about it, too. They'll be worried about her."

"Okay, Sō-chin!" Tsueko chirruped. "C'mon, Ryūbi-chan!"

They helped her out of the room. "You are not injured?" Spock asked.

"Oh, nothing a few hours on the seashore listening to the waves wouldn't solve," Torusuke said as he gazed on the Vulcan. "You have a very strong friend, Ambassador. He was hurt badly when he was forced to resign his commission, but he's glad to know you and McCoy-sensei are still alive and well. It gave him new hope."

"Well, don't just stand there, boy! Move aside so we can see him!" the cranky voice of one Leonard McCoy then snapped, which made Torusuke smirk as he stepped out of the way to allow the aged surgeon-general into the room, followed by Beverly Crusher, Elaine Cooper and Jennifer Turner. "Now that you've done your hocus-pocus, go find a beach!"

"Do you have holodecks on this ship?" the _Enterprise_'s current chief medical officer then asked her counterpart from _Haida_.

The other doctor laughed as they walked inside. The only one that was still in the room with a now-sleeping Jim Kirk was Hana Hokaji, who looked drained and tired, but was still quite alive and well. Just to make sure, Crusher got out her tricorder to scan him while McCoy, Cooper and Turner moved to examine Kirk. "You look exhausted," Crusher then mused as she pulled out a general stimulant from her smock pocket to give him.

"Feel it, too. I could use a smoke, but there's . . . aah!" he breathed out as the hypospray was injected into him. "Oh, that feels just as good!"

"Oh, that's right," she mused. "Tobacco smoking was still in the vogue back in your day. That's a bad habit for a doctor to acquire."

The tōshi doctor smirked as he gazed on her. "Doctor Crusher, if you were living in the practical equivalent of the front lines during the static warfare of World War One - especially during the times of the big battles like Ypres or the Somme - you'd have an idea of what I've often had to deal with over the last few years. And in previous lifetimes," he added. "I know what nicotine will do to me eventually. But believe me, it certainly helps keep the nerves calm, especially when you're dealing with cases like Mimōko or some other poor child who has a virtual _dragon_ locked into the very heart of their soul." A deep breath, and then he gazed on McCoy. "A little country medicine where I come from, Doctor. Your friend just needs a few hours' sleep, but I won't judge if he's ready to go back to that starship bridge just yet."

The older doctor took a moment to consider that, and then a smile turned the lips on his wrinkled face. "Good work, Doctor. You do house calls?"

The younger man smirked on hearing the unspoken request in the admiral's voice. "I need to get some rest myself, but I'll be happy to look over you when I get my energy back," Hokaji promised as he got up. "You folks are facing some bad things in the future. Your Federation is going to need all the help it can get."

"Don't have a Prime Directive, I take it?" the former chief medical officer of _Enterprise_ asked as he gave the other doctor a knowing look.

"No, thank the gods. I'm a doctor, Doctor. Saving lives comes first."

"Good! _Don't_ do that to yourselves, by the way!"

"I'll remember to tell Hiromi-sama that."

Laughter filled the room . . .

* * *

Captain's Secure Log, Stardate 48636.6,_  
Thanks to the wonderful assistance of Doctor Hokaji Hana - an elder t__ō__shi who is spiritually descent from one of Earth's most famous surgeons from the classical era, Master Tuó Huà - and several of Director Moroboshi's friends who serve as either student council presidents or senior school leaders in the "battle schools of Kant__ō__," Captain Kirk has made a full recovery from his wounds and has finally met his own daughter, Carol Miramanee Kirk. He has been transferred from _Haida_ to the _Enterprise_-A so that Admiral McCoy can keep a close eye on him before he is declared fully fit for duty.  
To allow both _Haida_ and _Arizona_ to return back to their home dimension - with a side trip to the dimension of the Greater East Asia Republic to retrieve DNA samples of all the male victims of _The Program_ so they could begin new lives in the home dimension of the Earth Defence Force - as quickly as possible, Admiral Quinn has commenced taking depositions from the members of _Haida_'s ship's company so that he could render a verdict concerning the near-loss of the _Enterprise_-D over Veridian III.  
Of course, as arranged by Director Moroboshi, Doctor Soran will soon depart for the Nexus aboard one of _Haida_'s Star Flare warp-equipped shuttlecraft, accompanied by Miss Ry__ō__ko Morokuzu so that the other "horcruxi" of the survivors of the _Lakul_ seventy-eight years ago can be retrieved so those who were "saved" from the Nexus could, as Guinan did, get their lives put back together. Admiral Quinn has agreed with Director Moroboshi in concerns to the doctor, accepting that the fragmentation of the man's soul thanks to the Nexus contributed to his actions that resulted in the destruction of the Amargosa star by a trilithium-equipped missile. As a further show of faith, Doctor Soran gave copies of his trilithium research - which was saved from the destruction of his base on Veridian III - to me as well as General Dujduy and High Councillor Heva to ensure that the Federation, the Klingons and the Romulans will be well-prepared ahead of time in case any terrorist group or minor power moves to develop such weapons of mass destruction to use in the future.  
As for the _Enterprise_-D, however . . ._

* * *

_Enterprise_-D, the main briefing room . . .

"How much damage . . .?"

Geordi La Forge sighed. "It's pretty bad, Captain. Massive feedback from the disruptor hits nearly burned out half the computer cores even if the actual physical damage near the bridge and in the area around the starboard impulse engine and elsewhere was quite light. If we get her to a dockyard to repair the damage - AND wait for a whole new engineering hull to be constructed to replace the one we lost - we're looking at a good two, maybe three, years before we're back into space again, sir." He then turned to gaze on Dujduy. "What did you do to those disruptors, General?"

"Something I've been thinking about ever since the Borg first made their attack run on Earth some years ago," the Klingon-form Questor replied. All the senior staff of the current _Enterprise_ had assembled in the briefing room, they joined by Admiral Gregory Quinn - who sat at the other end of the table from Jean-Luc Picard - as well as Moroboshi Hiromi, Brian Gamblin and Thomas Kazanski. "Admiral Shyrae has some bright weaponeers working on modifying shipboard phaser banks and torpedo launchers for Starfleet so that if ever they come back, you'll be much better prepared to deal with them."

Picard nodded. "If the _Enterprise_ is declared a constructive loss, what then, Geordi?"

"Well, there are six Sovereign-class ships that are under construction. I won't second-guess Starfleet Command, but one of them might become the _Enterprise_-E. If we're allowed to switch over, we'd be back into space in a year at the earliest."

"I'll speak up on that case, Commander," Quinn then spoke up. "It was decided that after the loss of the _Enterprise_-C over Narendra III - at the recommendation of Chancellor K'mpec, by the way - that the most advanced starship class that was on the drawing boards at the time of such a loss would have the next _Enterprise_ as part of the class. As you'll all know, since the initial design work on the Galaxy-class was just getting underway when we lost the _Enterprise_-C, that contributed to the twenty-year delay before the current _Enterprise_ was commissioned." As the others in the room nodded, he added, "If the engineers at Starbase 105 do consider the _Enterprise_-D a total constructive loss, I'm sure one of the Sovereign-class ships now under construction will be commissioned as the _Enterprise_-E. Anyhow, to bring some better news to this meeting, while I haven't sat down to write the final review of what happened over Veridian III, I will say right now that no disciplinary or administrative action will be taken against any member of this ship's company." He smiled at Picard. "Jean-Luc, you took all the right precautions when you were given the information from Director Moroboshi about what might have happened had you crossed paths with Lursa and B'Etor. You just didn't guess that you'd actually be fighting General Dujduy's weapons atop that."

"Speaking of which, what's going to happen to them?" William Riker asked.

"I had them transferred to the _Negh'Var_ as soon as I could make arrangements," Dujduy answered. "They'll be tried before the High Council, then sentenced to life at Rura Penthe. I'll also have young Toral tracked down so that he doesn't cause any mischief in the future." Her eyes then locked on Worf. "You spared him since you understood at the time that he was but a tool of the ambition of others, Worf. In that, I fully agree with you. Hopefully, he'll be able to be taught properly."

"I will be more than happy to assist you in whatever way I can, General," Worf promised.

"I am honoured by your offer. What are your plans now, my friend?"

A sigh. "I have need of time to spend with my own family, General." He then paused before gazing on Picard. "It has been an honour and privilege to serve with you, Captain. All of you," he then added as he gazed on his other shipmates before he relaxed in his chair. "But I do not wish to have my career in Starfleet limited to serving in one ship or one crew. I will also spend some time on Boreth - even take Alexander there - for a time of spiritual reflection. Unless I'm still needed here."

"Not really," Picard said, smiling knowingly as he nodded his approval at his security officer's choice. "We're all in for some leave time and a final decision concerning the _Enterprise_ will take time to be made by people at Starfleet Command before we'll be all called back to duty once more. I'm sure we can all use a little rest and relaxation before we're back on the front lines again."

"It's kind of a pity, though."

Eyes locked on Riker. "What do you mean?" Hiromi asked.

The first officer sighed. "Well, if they decide to finally decommission this ship," he said as he looked around the room. Only a burned area on the bulkhead right next to the captain's private ready room indicated the heavy damage the primary hull had taken in this area of the _Enterprise_. "I was actually looking forward to taking command of this ship one of these days. And not in the situation we faced when you were temporarily assimilated by the Borg, sir," he then added as he gazed on Picard.

"Well, I personally wouldn't worry about that, Will," Picard said. "No matter what - as the admiral just said - there will always be a ship named _Enterprise_ in Starfleet."

A surprised laugh then escaped the director of the Earth Defence Force. The senior members of the _Enterprise_ crew looked over at her. "Please don't tell me that was something my 'movie-self' actually said," Picard then wondered.

"Well, words to that effect," Hiromi stated as Gamblin and Kazanski tried to hide their smirks. "Tell me, my dear Commander Riker: Do you intend to live forever?"

"But of course!" the first officer automatically stated, a devil-may-care smile crossing his face.

That did it: All three of the visitors from another dimension laughed loud on hearing that. Riker perked, and then he sat back in his chair. "Was it _that_ funny?"

"I do not have much experience to properly judge that, Commander," Data said.

_That_ made the _Enterprise_ personnel save for Worf all break down and laugh. "Was that actually amusing, Worf?" the now-confused android then asked the Klingon.

"As I have said before, Data, I have always found human humour difficult to comprehend," Worf calmly stated over all of the laughter . . .

* * *

Minutes later . . .

"Commander Sela's here to see you, sir."

"Send her in."

The door to the captain's ready room then opened to let in the blonde Romulan warbird commander. "Captain Picard," she said with a polite nod.

"Come in, Commander," Picard bade her as he gestured to the guest chair. "I understand you'll be heading back to Romulus now."

"Yes. What repairs we needed to make have been done and we'll be needed back home quite soon," she said as she took her chair. "Commander-General Liviana will also be heading back in her own ship. When Ambassador Spock feels it's time to return to Romulus to assist with the unification movement, she'll help transport him back."

He perked. "How do you feel about that, Sela? Back on Romulus, you expressed quite negative opinions towards Vulcans and their pursuit of logic and reason."

"I suspected you would ask that," she said, and then she relaxed in her chair. "You know of what happened to my father, don't you?"

"General Volskiar. He was quite high in the government until he was denounced, deposed and executed, as were his friends and supporters throughout the government." Picard then gazed at her. "That was you, wasn't it? You assisted in that."

She closed her eyes. "It was the most painful decision I had ever made in my lifetime, Captain. Could you imagine it?" she then asked. "A few years ago, I told you that when my mother was caught by my father's guards and executed after she tried to escape our home with me, whatever sense of being human I had within me at the time died with her. That . . . was not exactly true." She shook her head. "I repressed it, but never fully rid myself of those feelings. I needed them at times, actually. Especially when I was part of trade delegations to the worlds of the Interplanetary Confederation," she then added as she gave him a knowing look.

"Tokzheto, you mean."

"And other planets." She then paused before gazing at him. "Why?"

"Why not press a first contact between the Federation and the Confederation?" Picard asked before he sat back in his chair. "How do your people view them?"

"The Tokzhetoans?" she asked. At his nod, the commander took a moment to consider that, and then she said, "We need them. Yes, they are human . . . but in many ways, they are surprisingly Romulan in their thoughts and attitudes. Especially if they're natives of the older worlds the ancient Tokzhetoans helped seeded from your own race's lost cultures, such as Caesarea Prime from your old Roman Empire and the like."

"What about economically? You engage in a lot of trade with them, don't you?"

"Yes."

Picard took a deep breath. "A friend of mine who knows of the Confederation - when I once asked him about why we didn't send a starship out to find this lost group of Earth colonies deep in Beta Quadrant - told me this one simple thing." A pause. "The Romulan Star Empire is the Interplanetary Confederation's largest external trading partner. In a way, Romulus is to Tokzheto . . . what Qo'noS is to Earth." As Sela gaped at him, he smiled. "I would suggest you speak to High Councillor Heva about this, Sela. When the time comes that the Neutral Zone is abolished once and for all and trade can occur between the Federation and the Star Empire - and between your people and Worf's people - without impediments or the fear of a new war starting between us all, only THEN can an open link between Earth and Tokzheto happen. But we will not push it . . . and as I'm sure your mother could explain if you asked her, neither will they."

She considered that, and then she smiled. "I still don't like the logic."

"No Vulcan would ever ask you to accept something you don't feel comfortable with," he advised her. "But there are many on your planet who would welcome the peace and comfort that Surak wanted to bring to his people eventually produced. Just as there are those on Vulcan who still honour the ancient ways of their people. Ways that your people have preserved so diligently these last two thousand years." Noting her surprise, he added, "I believe that unification, if it is to happen between your peoples, must be an _equal_ exchange between Vulcan and Romulus, Sela. I think Ambassador Spock understands that well. And I'm sure those who support such an event - on both sides - also understand it. The Star Empire will not disappear. As Director Moroboshi told you, a race descent from remarkable settlers that braved the dangers of space in a migration of fifty light-years two millennia ago does not deserve to have **_that_** happen to them." He then sat back in his chair. "Besides, I actually want the chance to go see Romulus for itself without having to _disguise_ myself!" As Sela smirked on hearing that, he added, "Especially the waterfalls of Gal Gath'thong at dawn."

Sela's eyebrow arched. "Something Admiral Aldiar told you about."

He stopped. "Were you involved in that?"

A shake of the head. "No, but at the time, it was seen as necessary. Much that I could understand the admiral's desire for peace - or at least, for us to not get into a war we would have considerable trouble in winning - we don't like being seen as weak, Captain. If you understand Vulcan history at the time of the Reformation, you'll understand why." She then sighed. "It was a pity, though. He was a very good man. I served under him once when I was a sub-centurion, just fresh out of schooling. Perhaps if he had held off on expressing those views, he would have survived. But . . . "

Picard then perked. "Thank you for reminding me of that!" he then blurted out.

"Of what?" she asked.

The captain was already heading over to a private safe near where his fish tank was located. Opening it up, he scanned what was there, and then grinned. "Ah, here it is!" he said as he pulled out a dataPADD and moved to give it to her.

She took it, and then tapped the controls to scan what was there. Her jaw then dropped. "A letter from the admiral to his family?" she asked.

"Could you convey it to them?"

Sela blinked, and then she nodded. "I'll take it to them personally."

"Thank you." The door bell then chimed. "Come!"

The door opened, revealing Spock. "Captain," he said before noting who else was present. "Commander Sela. It is most agreeable to see you again."

She stood, nodding to him. "Ambassador. Did the commander-general . . .?"

"She informed me of what will soon happen. I should return to Romulus within a month, once I'm sure that Captain Kirk's daughter is properly established and able to commence her life with minimal disruptions." He then gazed on her with an almost fatherly look, which made Sela blush. "I look forward to seeing you again."

She gave him a warning look. "You cannot convert me that easily, sir."

"Nor do I intend to do so." Spock paused before adding, "I do not believe that you know this, Commander, but much of my support towards the reunification of our peoples actually arises from those elements on Vulcan and her colonies who are strong adherents to the ways of our people from before Surak's time. The Followers of T'Vet, for example." As Sela and Picard both gaped in shock at him - the Followers of T'Vet were some of the most passionate elements of the Vulcan people, who possessed and maintained fighting skills that impressed most Klingons - he added, "In fact, one of the members of that group - he is the grandson of an acquaintance of mine named Sendet; Sendet and I did the _kahs-wan_ together when we were young children over a century ago - will be joining me when I proceed back to Romulus. He is about your age. I have told Sadat about you and he has expressed his profound desire to make your acquaintance."

Sela was flabbergasted at the fact that this man - whom she had conspired to kill not more than three years ago! - was trying to set up a meeting with a man from _Vulcan_ of all places, even if he did actually still adhere to the old ways. "Well . . . if I am on Romulus when you come back, I would certainly welcome such a meeting, Ambassador!" she said, trying not to sputter like an embarrassed schoolchild. "I will see you then."

"I hope to make your mother's acquaintance as well," he added.

The commander sighed. "Mother's people are cautious, sir."

"And they are wise to be so. Yet, just as much as Romulus and Vulcan will one day draw closer together, so shall Tokzheto and Earth. It may do all our peoples much good to encourage that to happen as soon as it is practicable. In the meantime, I will not delay you any further, Commander." He then raised his hand in the parted-finger salute of his people. "Peace and long life, Sela Yar. May your future be forever bright."

Surprised that the Vulcan knew the old poetic translation of the Romulan greeting/farewell _Jolan-tru_, she nodded as she raised her own hand in a return salute. "Live long and prosper, Ambassador Spock. And may your future be forever bright." She then nodded politely to Picard. "Until we meet again, Captain. Excuse me, please."

"Safe voyage home, Commander," the captain bade. "And give your mother our best."

"I will."

And with that, the commander stepped out of the room. Spock was quick to sense the knowing look from the captain of the _Enterprise_, and then he said, "I did speak the truth about Sadat, Captain." He moved to take his seat. "I do believe Sela will come to appreciate him quite well once they have met and come to know each other."

"Is there something of Mister Sadat I need to know?" Picard asked.

"He has Terran human, Orion humanoid and Romulan ancestry as well Vulcan," Spock explained. "He is related to Sendet through his daughter T'Saran, who married S'karn, the son of a Romulan girl who had been abandoned on a destroyed Vulcan colony, T'Pina. She herself married a remarkable man named Beau Deaver on the Nisus colony . . . "

"Oh, yes! I know of that! The so-called 'IDIC Epidemic' that struck that colony shortly after your mother recovered from degenerative xenosis; it was actually an outbreak of Klingon Imperial plague!" Picard stated. "Hard to believe that the Followers of T'Vet would support a reunification between Vulcan and Romulus."

"At first, I believed that the teachings of Surak would be the _**only**_ thing that would bring our peoples actually together," the ambassador then confessed. "However, as time went on and I worked with the movement on Romulus, I began to realise that perhaps fully understanding what motivated S'task and his followers to leave Vulcan for Romulus - and adhere to the mixing of both what Surak taught and what had influenced our people before his time - after the Duthuliv pirates attacked our world in the _'Ahkh_ would assist in this matter. When I contacted Sendet and Elder Satat about my desire to have the Followers aid my efforts, they were both quite surprised. When I explained my reasoning, however, both became quite supportive and solicited assistance from other Vulcan colonies across the political spectrum to send teaching supplies to Romulus."

"They must have been," Picard mused. Through Sarek's memories, he knew of the incident during the _kahs-wan_ when Spock had gladly sacrificed his efforts to succeed in the ten-day excursion journey to save a wounded Sendet after he had fallen off a cliff to avoid a sehlat cub and had broken several of his ribs. "Still, they clearly saw both the logic of the situation . . . and could agree to the passion of the moment."

"Indeed they did . . . "

The intercom then chimed. "Riker to Picard."

The captain tapped a control on his desk. "Picard here."

"Sir, we just received a signal from _Haida_. The shuttle _DeWolf_ has come back after delivering Doctor Soran to the Nexus. Miss Morokuzu has the meson crystals with the soul-fragments from Guinan's friends on the _Lakul_ with them."

Picard nodded. He knew that _Haida_'s four Star Flare executive shuttles had been named after the original destroyer's commanding officers who had directed the ship in both World War Two and the Korean War: Harry DeWolf, Robert Welland, Reginald "Jumbo" Weller and Dunn Lantier. The smaller Space Dhow shuttles had not received names, unlike all of _Enterprise_'s service craft. "That's good news. Is she alright?"

"She's fine, Captain. Atop that, Captain Gamblin and his crew have organised an early Christmas celebration with the ship's band for the dependants and the children from _Enterprise_ before we get to Starbase 105 and they disembark. We've been invited to attend."

A smile. "Far be it for us to refuse such an invitation."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

_Haida_, the main reception hall, later . . .

"I cannot BELIEVE that Onē-sama did that!"

Surprised to hear that statement from the director of the Earth Defence Force, Picard - who had been joined by a clearly recovering Jim Kirk as well as the other Federation starship captains in the small formation now making their way towards Starbase 105 so that the _Enterprise_'s civilian dependants and the children could be disembarked before _Haida_ and _Arizona_ could eventually return back to their home dimension - then looked over. "What exactly did she do, Hiromi?"

A groan. "There are days, Jean-Luc, I wonder if she understood what actually becoming human was all about!" Hiromi stated as she beckoned him down to the front row of the reception hall, a large space in the forward end of the ship next to the chief and petty officer's mess that served as a combination classroom for on-the-job training evolutions, an all-ranks meeting hall for large assemblies . . . as well as a casualty clearance area in times of emergencies. Like all auditoriums, it was built on a slanted floor that gave people in the aft rows a clear view of the raised stage, where all the members of the ship's band division - which was one of the more complete parts of the whole ship's company - were now assembling their equipment. On the forward bulkhead were mounted the unit badges of all the Navy, Army and Air Force units that worked together to make the physical starship christened _Haida_ work as a single unit, the beautiful crest of the Canadian starship herself having prominent place in the centre of the display. "One day, she acts as if nothing that normal people do for themselves and others matter. And then she decides she wishes to celebrate a holiday in a manner that hasn't been done in centuries. To say anything of celebrating something that really isn't a holiday in Japan of all places!"

"Like Christmas, you mean?" Kirk asked.

"Aye!"

"What did she do?" Admiral Quinn - who, as the senior ranking service officer now aboard the Canadian starship, had been given the central seat in the front row - then asked.

"Why are we blindfolded?"

People perked on hearing that voice, and then turned to see Negako gently guide four women in high school seifuku down to their own seats. All four of them were escorted by members of the _Haida_'s ship's company as they had blindfolds over their eyes. "You will understand the matter in a moment, Yūko. Do not be concerned," the ninjutsu grandmaster stated as she moved to help Asai Mayumi sit Sakaki Yūko down.

"Must be some surprise," Riker noted from the row behind the assembled captains.

Negako looked over. "It is, William," she said as Inada Mizuho, Etō Megumi and Minami Kaori were sat down. "Say nothing at this time," she instructed the ones around them.

The people close to her nodded, and then Negako beckoned with her hand towards one of the aft doors leading into the reception hall. The boatswain there nodded, and then opened the door. People turned to watch . . . and then all those from the _Enterprise_ who knew of the story of the four middle school girls from another dimension who had endured a horror like nothing they could ever imagine gaped in surprise on seeing what Negako herself had been quick to arrange with the help of the Staff of Gihan, they moving to file into the seats behind Mizuho, Megumi, Kaori and Yūko.

One of them then leaned forward to embrace Yūko from behind. "Hey."

She gasped, and then reached up to rip off her blindfold, spinning around to see who was now hugging her . . . in a real body. "_**SH**__**Ū**__**YA-KUN!**_" she screamed out.

That got the others from Shiroiwa Junior High School to spin around, ripping off their own blindfolds before they screamed out their joy and relief at knowing that their male classmates - the first of many yet to come - now lived again. Watching this from nearby, Negako nodded in approval before she headed out of the room. She stopped beside Kiriyama Kazuo. "Kazuo," she said, making him gaze upon her. "When this is finally over, there will be things we need to discuss."

He gazed on her, and then nodded in understanding while she headed up . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	16. In A Class of Her Own

The concert was quite an extended affair that brought forth cheers and laughter from the many children and civilian dependants that had called U.S.S. _Enterprise_ their home for the last eight years . . . not to mention a sense of relief and satisfaction from her service personnel who had survived eight years of considerable dangers, vast mysteries and painful losses to finally get to this point in their lives.

Much to the complete surprise of _Haida_'s and _Arizona_'s crew, despite the level of secularisation that had spread across humanity as a whole thanks to what increased contact with other worlds and cultures over the previous three centuries unleashed, there were certain holidays and celebrations that were seen as universal even beyond Earth. Christmas was one such celebration that had endured even to the Twenty-fourth Century. And even if - in the timeline of the personnel of the Federation - the winter holiday was still over five months away for them, the fact that their visitors from another dimension's North America in the year 2010 had been celebrating the season before the accident with the Staff of Gihan made _Haida_ jump the dimensional barriers was a handy excuse for the children, especially the young ones, to celebrate the season a little early.

After performing _Arrival_ to start off the evening, the songs for the first hour-and-a-half of the concert - the concert was planned as a three-hour affair, with breaks of ten minutes every hour to allow people a chance to visit the heads or get refreshments from the stewards - was holiday fare, a mixture of traditional music and more modern (for the early Twenty-first Century) songs like _Jingle Bell Rock_, which proved (to the surprise of the ship's band director, Lieutenant [Navy] Carol Vanheeren) more popular to the kids than older carols like _Silent Night_. Of course, the musicians in _Haida_'s band - a mixture of veterans from the Forces' active bands who had gladly transferred over (once they also agreed to undergo training as Advanced Care Paramedics, which many would commence doing after the turn of the New Year) and Avalonian recruits from among the ship's "plank owners" who were programmed to be musicians from the start - were more than happy to play anything that seemed fitting for the season; the kids loved it all. Especially when "the Thunderbird Chorus" - a nickname bestowed to the team of Ordinary Seamen Sakai Yuki, Okajima Namie, Kakizawa Eri and Sudō Yuki - put their voices to the task of getting the children to sing along whenever they walked out into the audience to get them to participate.

The second part of the concert was "request time," which ended up surprising the band members when the children of _Enterprise_ began asking for a quite interesting selection of non-Christmas songs. The first request was Steppenwolf's _Magic Carpet Ride_ . . . which the Trekkers on both _Haida_ and _Arizona_ remembered from the movie _Star Trek - First Contact_; that was the song Zefram Cochrane played when the _Phoenix_ had launched on its historic first trans-luminal flight in 2063 (in the movie, he was accompanied by William Riker and Geordi La Forge). Another surprising song was Gordon Lightfoot's 1967 ballad _Canadian Railroad Trilogy_, which had actually been requested by a young Vulcan girl, T'Neri . . . out of the mistaken belief that the long song was actually Canada's national anthem! "It's not, T'Neri . . . but believe it or not, there are a lot of people in Canada who actually say it IS!" Drum Major CPO2 Stuart Colvin stated as many of _Haida_'s crew tried not to laugh and cause the poor child any embarrassment at her mistake.

Also requested during this time - thanks to Jean-Luc Picard's young "command team" from the quantum filament accident that befell the _Enterprise_ three years ago: Marissa Flores, Jay Gordon Graas and Patterson Supera - were a couple of recent (to _Haida_'s crew) songs written in tribute to the members of the Canadian Forces that came out in the first decade of the Third Millennium in response to their homeland's large contribution to the "war on terror" in Afghanistan in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington. First was a ballad from Alberta native Roland Majeau, _Soldier's Cry_, which had been written not just for Canadian soldiers, but also done in versions for their counterparts in the United States (which the band played right afterward for those of _Arizona_ aboard _Haida_ and attending the concert at the time) and the United Kingdom. And then came _Standing Strong and True (For Tomorrow)_, a benefit song that came out in late 2010 which had been performed by a massive gathering of Canadian country and western singers to help nation-wide charities support the relatives of those who had served in Afghanistan as well as those in that nation who needed such support.

Finally, as the end of the third hour came, Carol Vanheeren turned and gazed on Moroboshi Hiromi. "You wished to make some comments, Director?"

"Indeed I do, Lady Lieutenant," the reborn emperor said as she got up and walked over to ascend the stage. Nodding her thanks as the band director pulled away from the lectern she had been standing on to direct the concert, Hiromi stepped up, and then turned to gaze upon the audience. She then smiled as she deliberately turned to look up at the circular crest with its _corona navalis_ over the rectangular dark blue field with the ship's name in gold print on it over the black twin-headed thunderbird rising from the symbolic blue and white wavy lines at the base of the circle indicative of the water from which the legendary creature was said to reside in. After a moment, she then sighed. "A truly noble badge for a truly noble ship. Both then and now.

"And yet, it's missing something."

Sensing the surprise from all of _Haida_'s crew on her saying that, Hiromi then chuckled before she gazed on them. "Oh, please! Don't fret about it!" she then stated. "Yes, that badge you all wear on your uniforms and we have emblazoned all over this ship is the correct badge as approved by the leaders of the Royal Canadian Navy when they came into proper use after the end of the Second World War. Yet . . . " She turned back to gaze upon it. "When I compare _Haida_'s most beautiful crest with the crests of the units that have joined her in her current mission, I cannot fail to note something is missing." She then waved to the badge of the Canadian Guards, mounted to the starboard of _Haida_'s crest. "_Ad Mari Usque Ad Mare_. 'From Sea Unto Sea.' Not just the motto of a regiment, but also the country that regiment which is truly worthy of its hire gallantly serves." She waited for the members of the Guards present today to cheer before she waved to the badge of 21 Space Wing to the port of the ship's crest. "_Ex Astris, Spes_. 'From The Stars, Hope.' Not just the motto of the first space formation of the Air Force, but also the motto of the Clan Raeburn of Clayhurst." A round of cheers then erupted from members of 21 Wing that were present, and then she then waved to Tom Kazanski. "The motto of the noble _Arizona_ which came to _Haida_'s aide across the dimensional barriers: _Ditant Astra -_ 'The Stars Enrich' - which was derived from that ship's beautiful namesake state and her motto, _Ditant Deus_ or 'God Enriches.'" After the Americans present today whooped and cheered, she then gazed on the guests from Starfleet. "And for those who had the chance to tour the _Enterprise_ and see her dedication plaque on the starboard side of the bridge, you saw her motto there. 'To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.'" Polite applause came from the Starfleet personnel from that ship, and then Hiromi asked, "So I must therefore ask this . . .

"Where is _Haida_'s motto?"

Silence fell as the people considered that, and then Hiromi sighed. "I noted this discrepancy just after our mission to Yaminokuni, then mentioned this in a private letter to the good Defence Minister McKay when I passed on my final after-action report of that mission to his office in Ottawa in August. He - once he confirmed what I had told him - expressed his most profound surprise at the fact that the original _Haida_ was never granted a ship's motto as several of her then-sisterships received, such as _À Coup Sûr_ or 'With Sure Stroke' for _Algonquin_, _Athabaskan_'s 'We Fight as One,' _Huron_'s 'Ready The Brave' or _Iroquois_' 'Relentless in Chase.'" She then stepped off the lectern and moved through the ranks of bandsmen to the forward end of the stage, reaching over to the cloth that covered the bulkhead as a way of providing some colour to the room.

She then yanked that down, pulling away a drape that hid a motto scroll that had just been mounted under the Canadian starship's badge, it framing the bottom of the circular badge's base as once had been done with the old Royal Canadian Navy flying squadrons:

**_In Classe Propria Est_**

As the crew of _Haida_ all began to cheer and whoop at the sight of the newest addition to their ship's ever-growing ceremonial traditions, Hiromi walked back to stand beside the lectern. "For the final song of the evening . . . _In A Class of Her Own_."

Vanheeren grinned as she bowed. "Very good, Director."

As Hiromi returned to her seat and many in the audience applauded, the band director stepped onto the lectern as the members of the band braced themselves. Guitarist Fujisawa Kasumi came up to stand beside the Thunderbird Chorus to begin a solo introduction to the theme song prepared by Parks Canada in honour of the original H.M.C.S. _Haida_, which had been adopted by the present H.M.C.S. _Haida_ as her unofficial theme song (both Carol Vanheeren and Stuart Colvin were still working on turning the beautiful folk medley into a proper marching tune for a 60 pace-per-minute quick march). As the rest of the band joined in with their instruments, the four young singers grasped hands and began:

_Waving goodbye with tears in our eyes,  
We left our loved ones behind.  
Many of us never been off-shore,  
Not knowing what Fate had in store._

_For twenty years upon her we sailed  
From Múrmansk to the Bay of Biscay,  
Serving King, Queen and Country;  
In battle and peace we prevailed . . ._

To the initial surprise of the guests from the other ships, the whole crew present then joined in as the refrain and the chorus began . . .

_We came from the East,  
We came from the West,  
Brothers in arms,  
(Brothers in arms . . . )  
Good men one and all . . .!_

_Twenty-seven Tribals set out to sea.  
Thirteen sunk. Thirteen gone.  
Only _Haida_ lives on!  
She's in a class of her own!  
In a class of her own!_

The crowd relaxed as the Thuderbird Chorus picked up the second verse . . .

_The years went by and she lay still  
But threats still remained.  
People cried out to save her greatness,  
Her greatness and her name._

_She stands tall honouring all who died  
So we could be free.  
No sacrifice never too great  
Lest we forget the Tribals' legacy!_

Most of _Haida_'s non-commissioned members got to their feet as they picked up the refrain and chorus . . .

_We came from the East,  
We came from the West,  
Brothers in arms,  
(Brothers in arms . . . )  
Proud sailors one and all!_

_Twenty-seven Tribals set out to sea.  
Thirteen sunk. Thirteen gone.  
Only _Haida_ lives on!  
She's in a class of her own!  
In a class of her own!_

The instrumental intermission then began, which - unlike when the song was first written for use by Parks Canada for the original _Haida_ and played on a free downloadable video, was not accompanied by the sounds of guns firing and explosions that marked the horror of the Battle of the Atlantic - as violinist Sendō Asuka came up to join her sisters in the Chorus.

And then . . .

_We shared joy and fear,  
Laughter and sorrow,  
Victory and loss . . .  
To ship and comrades, raise a tot!_

_Many memories we have stored,  
The journey from life aboard.  
To the end of our watch,  
Lives on a ship forever moored!_

Then, almost all the audience - even most of the guests from other ships - joined in on the final chorus . . .

_Twenty-seven Tribals set out to sea.  
Thirteen sunk. Thirteen gone.  
Only _Haida_ lives on . . .!  
(Only _Haida_ lives on . . .!)  
She's in a class of her own!  
(She's in a class of her own!)  
In a class of her own!_

_Twenty-seven Tribals set out to sea.  
(Twenty-seven Tribals . . . )  
Thirteen sunk. Thirteen gone.  
(Thirteen gone . . . )  
Only _Haida_ lives on . . .!  
(Only _Haida_ lives on . . .!)  
She's in a class of her own!  
(She's in a class of her own!)  
In a class of her own!_

_She's in a class of her own . . ._

A loud cheer then echoed through the meeting hall as the band stood up to take a standing ovation from the audience, then perform a couple of curtain calls . . .

* * *

Ship's Operational Log, Thursday 30 December 2010, ship's time 0941 hours EST, Captain (Navy) Brian Gamblin reporting,_  
H.M.C.S. _Haida _and U.S.S. _Arizona_ have arrived at Starbase 105 alongside the Federation formation sent out to tow the surviving sections of the U.S.S. _Enterprise _after the loss of her engineering hull and warp propulsion systems in the incident over Veridian III. The remaining injured personnel from _Enterprise_ that were still aboard _Haida_ at the time of our arrival have been transferred to the base's medical complex for further treatment. We are also moving to allow the civilian dependants and dependent children who had been transferred to _Haida_ just after the battle with the Ladies Lursa and B'Etor to disembark so they can return to their home planets with their spouses and parents for a long-deserved period of shore leave.  
Unfortunately, given the closeness of this whole affair, saying good-bye to new friends is proving to be more difficult than initially expected . . ._

* * *

_Haida_, Materialiser Room Five . . .

"So your race also pursues a study of _c'thia_."

"Our version of it, which in a sense of the term, we inherited from our creators in the wake of the War of Clone Rights that effectively destroyed the Fourth Republic thirteen millennia ago," Takanashi Naoko stated as she escorted a group of Vulcans - both Starfleet service personnel and their dependents - into the room so they could beam off the ship. Leading them was T'Thelaih Mason, who - while she certainly did not keep tight control over her emotions like her companions such as Ensign Taurik, his sister T'Kasha (a bartender from Ten-Forward), her husband Storal (a healer and doctor in _Enterprise_'s medical group) and their daughter T'Neri (the girl who had requested Gordon Lightfoot's famous ballad on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway during the Christmas concert the previous evening), was still quite accepted for what she was - had been able to compile a considerable amount of data on both _Enterprise_'s performance over Veridian III as well as _Haida_'s multi-layered weapons systems. "And when I was first created and activated, I knew nothing but logic even if I was programmed to show facial emotions. I required exposure to the Dragon Jade . . . " - she indicated her maple leaf-shaped earring with the naval crown and fouled anchor on it - " . . . to have one of the souls contained in the device downloaded into my mind to merge with my soul to make me truly human."

Save for Taurik, all the Vulcans all looked surprised, Mason herself moving to cover her mouth to hide the shocked gasp she nearly unleashed on hearing that. "Did it not threaten the integrity of your own soul, Lieutenant?" Storal then asked.

"No, Healer. The souls trapped in the Dragon Jade had all - save for two - been stripped of their sense of self-identity and all memories of their previous lives. Thus, when we merged, I inherited the knowledge which would allow me to operate as a Terran even if I am of Avalonian blood . . . and that unfortunate soul gained a new sense of identity as myself. It was mutually beneficial to us both."

"Similar to the process by which the entity known as the Companion merged with the then-dying Assistant Commissioner Nancy Hedford so that the latter could continue to live and provide human companionship to Professor Cochrane," Taurik concluded.

Naoko perked. "How did you learn that, Ensign? As I recall, Captain Kirk did much to keep the full story of that incident secret from the official records."

"We recovered both the professor and his companion in a shuttlecraft that was trapped in the event horizon of a black hole five years ago," the engineering ensign explained. "They had been trapped there - in relative time - since 2267, when they had been chased into there by a still-surviving element of a most illogical Terran organisation known as the Optimum Movement; they were the primary cause of Earth's Third World War." As Naoko nodded in understanding, Taurik added, "Sadly, both the professor and his companion were fatally wounded shortly after we emerged from the black hole; they perished aboard the _Enterprise_ some days later."

"Saddening," Naoko mused. "I trust the perpetrator of this event was caught?"

"He was dealt with," Taurik stated, and then he hummed. "Interesting."

"What distresses you, Uncle?" T'Neri asked as she gazed up to him.

"I am not distressed, my niece. However, I just came to realise something Sam told me about a possible connection between the Lady Pannan and Colonel Jameston."

The other Vulcans gazed at him. "The heroine of the Third World War?" T'Kasha then asked. "Why would you assume such a connection, Taurik?"

"Wesley learned of a vision an elder on Dorvan V experienced concerning the Questors, T'Kasha. We are aware of what the Lady Pannan really is, are we not?" As the other Vulcans nodded in understanding, he added, "Elder Anthwara stated that he believed the Lady Pannan was actually born in the land of an aboriginal American tribe known as the Innu. That tribe lives in the Canadian province of Québec on Earth today."

"And Québec City is the colonel's known place of birth," Mason then spoke up. "That tends to correspond to rumours that run rampant in the Marine Corps - especially the 14th Infantry Battalion - about the colonel still being out there, always watching out in case the Optimum might crawl back out of the shadows like Thorsen did to try to hunt down and kill Professor Cochrane." A shake of the head. "If the whole thing about the Questors is supposed to be kept top-secret, people aren't doing their jobs."

"Or they wish to practice security through obscurity, Captain," Naoko then noted.

"'Security through obscurity,' Lieutenant?" Storal asked.

"Yes, Healer Storal. As Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself put it succinctly, 'In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies,'" Naoko explained. "If this Optimum Movement - which you just told me was the primary cause of a world war on Earth that (so we learned from the television series in our universe) cost over six hundred million lives - is still potentially active, that the woman responsible for stopping them is still alive is a truth that, I believe, must be guarded by a whole _brigade_ of lies and misinformation. Would you not agree?"

"A logical conclusion," Taurik mused, and then he straightened himself. "In the meantime, we have our lives and careers to pursue and you have your own mission to rescue Miss Inada's friends to carry out. Permission to disembark, Lieutenant?"

Naoko stepped back and saluted them. "Permission is granted, Ensign." A nod to Mason, and then Storal. "Captain. Healer." She then smiled as she raised her hand in the Vulcan salute. "As my people say it: Peace, logic and harmony to you all."

The Vulcans returned that salute. "Live long and prosper, Naoko," Taurik said.

They then stepped onto the materialiser pad . . .

* * *

Materialiser Room Two . . .

"I cannot take such a gift, Miss Morokuzu."

Gazing in amusement at Spock, Morokuzu Ryōko then allowed her eyebrow to arch in a Vulcan-like manner, which made the ambassador stare at her. "My Lord Ambassador, it is not for you to gaze upon - though we certainly will not mind if you did see these television episodes - but for Fleet Admiral Shyrae to possess."

"Spock, these people are NOT bound by the Prime Directive OR the Temporal Prime Directive!" Leonard McCoy stated. The old veterans of the original _Enterprise_ - save for Jim Kirk, who was with his daughter in Sick Bay getting a final check-up before Elaine Cooper would officially discharge her from the care of the Canadian Forces Medical Services - had been intercepted by the young temple maiden before they would have beamed off _Haida_ for the _Enterprise_-A, which would then take them back to Earth before her returned captain would get new orders. "Besides, they're talking about potential _future_ events, not something that affects our past. I don't think even the people at Temporal Investigations will raise a stink over this! Captain Picard didn't care at all when Hiromi revealed what she knew about Miss Guinan and Jim, remember?"

"Besides, it'll be in the hands of Shyrae, Spock," Nyota Uhura added. "Who in all of the Federation would you trust with this sort of information more than _her_?"

The Vulcan considered that, and then he nodded. "Your arguments, Nyota, are both logical and well-reasoned. Still, I am not used to defying even the spirit of either directive so casually, even by proxy." He then gazed on Ryōko. "If I may be so bold as to inquire, Miss Morokuzu, why are you allowing us to possess the copies of the television series centred on events on Deep Space Nine and the _Voyager_?"

"Well, if I recall the situation within the Federation at this time in your lives correctly, you just made contact with the race that controls the large swath of space in Gamma Quadrant addressed as the 'Dominion,' have you not?"

"Yes, that's correct," Uhura stated. "The U.S.S. _Odyssey_ - one of the _Enterprise_'s sister ships - was destroyed last year by a Dominion ship on the other side of the wormhole that connects that quadrant to ours near Bajor."

Ryōko sighed. "I will tell you this, Admiral: You will soon be in a war with the Dominion. A war that I believe will be unlike any your Federation has ever faced before. A war that will be savage beyond reason, where the black flag demanding no quarter given or taken will be raised on many occasions. A war that will stretch your current set of alliances all the way to the breaking point and beyond." She then waved around her to indicate _Haida_. "We have practical reasons to make sure you understand what is about to happen to you in the next few years. The interaction between _Haida_ and _Enterprise_ is now a point of public record in Starfleet. The Founders could learn of same, then potentially breach the dimensional barriers and attack us. Perhaps simply out of fear that - given how much we were willing to help the _Enterprise_ when we came here, as demonstrated by what happened concerning Master Data's daughter and your former commanding officer - we might decide to render further aid to allow the Federation to survive and endure."

"And you're not ready to deal with something like that," Pavel Chekov said as the others standing there all nodded in grim understanding.

"Aye, Admiral. We are NOWHERE close to being ready to face something like that! And while we ourselves do not wish the Dominion or her inhabitants harm, I believe - as the episodes of _Deep Space Nine_ will demonstrate - they will not listen." Ryōko then took a deep breath. "And should that happen, I guarantee that it will unleash the fury of the advanced races of MY dimension. Especially the new race now rising on Sagussa. While they are clearly motivated - or so we believe from what my own beloved and his friend learned on the construction station they used to build _Haida_ - to espouse peace and good will, they ALSO possess weapons of terrifying power. Including genesis bombs similar to the device your captain's former lover Carol Marcus and his son David once created . . . to say anything of space battleships equipped with anti-proton cannons of a strength and power far greater in magnitude than the automated device that wrecked your _Enterprise_'s sistership _Constellation_ many years ago."

"Trans-dimensional universal Armageddon," Hikaru Sulu breathed out.

"Good God . . .!" McCoy hoarsely exclaimed.

A nod. "Indeed. Hiromi-sama would personally never dream of causing such harm to anyone without just cause. And she will NEVER be accused of something as ghastly as _genocide._" Ryōko then took a deep breath. "But there is a strong bond between her and her brother Ataru, my friends. And there is a very strong emotional bond - even if Hiromi-sama will wish it not so all the way to her dying breath - between Ataru-sama and the new race now rising on Sagussa. Should - may the Heavens NEVER allow this to happen! - the Dominion somehow bring harm to either of them, the results would be beyond imagination." She indicated the set of DVD disks she had just handed Spock. "As I said before, Lord Ambassador: This coming war - IF you are not able to stop it - will press your people to limits they have never confronted before. Some - and I speak of the organisation the Lady Admiral Shyrae commands - may be tempted to unleash things that should never see the light of day. I advise you, sir, to remember what Negako-sama warned both you and Master Data sometime ago about. You will need to believe in the core principles of the Federation if you are to survive, recover and continue to endure." She then closed her eyes. "More strongly than you have ever done so before."

The former senior officers of the first two starships named _Enterprise_ exchanged looks, and then Spock nodded. "Your arguments are quite logical, Miss Morokuzu. But I also sense personal reasons driving your gift to us beyond practical considerations."

She blushed slightly. "Admittedly, yes, Ambassador. You remember Sonami-onēsama's reaction after Hana-sensei was able to heal the captain?"

A nod. "Indeed."

"I believe we will - even if this is the last time we actually meet face-to-face - make use of the Staff of Gihan and other such devices (if we find same) to keep an eye on things in your universe. Not to interfere, of course, but to ensure all the many efforts _Haida_'s crew made to help _Enterprise_ in this trying time would not be effectively wasted." Ryōko then smiled at them. "Atop that, there is the question of the gallant _Voyager_, now deep within Delta Quadrant, many thousands of light-years from home and looking upon a voyage of potentially many decades to return to the fold of the Federation. I believe, Admiral Uhura, there has been no contact with her since she went missing in the Badlands?"

A shake of the head. "None whatsoever," Uhura confirmed.

Ryōko then smiled. "Then the DVDs containing the copies of the episodes of _Voyager_ will give heart to those who are working to locate her and ascertain what did happen to her. The good Lady Captain Janeway will do all within her power to hasten their return voyage home. When - and I do say WHEN! - you make contact with her finally, letting them know that their loved ones await their return will do much for all involved."

"The information will still have to be controlled so as to not create a false sense of hope, but I believe it can be used," Spock then stated. "Remembering, of course, that what was depicted on your television screens and what will occur in our reality may be different, I believe I can support a claim that this will not violate the Temporal Prime Directive if such an accusation is ever raised."

"Spock, we know Shyrae would never do such a thing!" Chekov reminded him.

"Indeed so, Pavel. In the meantime, I believe we should leave at this time so _Haida_ may proceed on her next assignment." Spock then raised his hand in the Salute. "Peace and long life, Morokuzu Ryōko. May your future be forever bright."

She returned his salute with her own. "Live long and prosper, Master Spock. May the Heavens guide you well in the future." She then nodded to the others. "And to you as well. May your captain's return make your future even brighter."

"Ye take care, lass!" Montgomery Scott said . . .

* * *

Sick Bay Flats . . .

"To believe the colonel's still _alive_ . . . "

"But sadly, she cannot be helped at this time."

Wesley Crusher blinked as he took in what his former commanding officer just said, and then he lightly smiled. "Elder Anthwara thinks she can."

"But how?" his mother then asked. Jean-Luc Picard, Jim Kirk, Data, Lal, Guinan and the Crushers were in the waiting area for the completion of the examination that Moroboshi Negako wished to perform on Carol Kirk before everyone departed _Haida_ for the last time. "If this Silence is as all-encompassing as you told me, Jean-Luc, recovering the colonel's memories - after THREE CENTURIES living as 'Roy Pannan' on Vulcan! - may actually do her more harm than good!"

"I wish I could tell you when she did it. Or how she was able to finally get the power TO do it," Guinan then said. Learning of what had really happened to her favourite Terran "niece" - even if a lot of the information was still mostly based on speculation and a lot of guesswork - had hurt her almost as bad as experiencing the soul-ripping effects of the Nexus nearly eighty years before. "None of my race even knew the Questors existed. Maybe the Aegis might know the answer, but . . . "

"Gary Seven's people, you mean," Kirk said.

The El-Aurian nodded. "From what I remember, it was Seven who helped Roy be adopted by her parents. But other than that, I can't say more. We didn't learn of the Aegis until much later, much less his involvement with them." She then breathed out. "If there was only some way to contact him or his friends . . . "

"Is there a connection?" Picard wondered. "Between the Aegis and the Questors?"

"I do not believe so, sir," Data stated. "After I was allowed to view all known records of the Questors with the permission of Fleet Admiral Shyrae - as relayed by High Councillor Heva - I examined all recorded contact incidents with races that possessed greater levels of technological and spiritual advancement than those commonly known to the Federation. Sadly, no such contact with the Aegis was ever recorded."

"Well, if Mister Seven is still alive and well in this day and age - which is a possibility given that we don't know much about the Aegis and how long their agents do live - and if we come in contact with him again, we can just ask him," Kirk mused.

"Could any sort of repairs to the colonel's memory still be affected?" Lal wondered.

Data shook his head. "Most unlikely, Lal. The Silence - as it is understood by all Questors living today - erased all knowledge of their origins from their very own genetic memory. There have been attempts over the years by various Questors to find some way to restore that memory, but all attempts have been unsuccessful. In Colonel Jameston's case - running on the supposition that she and Ms. Pannan are both one and the same person - her memories of her life before 2079 were completely removed from her mind. When the crew of the _Sha'ath_ located her in 2084 aboard a drifting DY-400 near Alpha Centauri - and then discovered what she was - they transported her to Vulcan, where she was allowed to meet one of the elder Vulcan-form Questors then on the planet, Elder T'Nega. It was she who helped Ms. Pannan re-acquire her sense of self. But as with their predecessors, any attempts at recovering her memories failed."

"Still, there must be hope, Father."

They all gazed on the young android, and then Picard smiled. "You're right, Lal. We must _**never**_ give up hope. And, Heaven forbid, if ever there are other survivors of the Optimum like Colonel Thorsen running around there somewhere . . . "

"Like Green," Kirk cut in. As the others gazed on him, the captain of the first two starships named _Enterprise_ added, "They never found his body, remember?"

"Yes," Picard affirmed with a nod. "They never did. And if he was as truly fanatical as Thorsen was when it came to achieving his goals . . . "

"He could be out there somewhere, waiting to strike," Crusher breathed out, shivering as she remembered the time Adrik Thorsen had taken control of Data in his mad attempt at trying to capture Zefram Cochrane to seize the secrets of something that could not exist: a warp bomb. "And if he learns that Colonel Jameston's alive . . . "

"He could come out of nowhere to strike at her," Wesley concluded, and then shook his head. "What's worse, she wouldn't really understand why . . . "

The others grimly nodded . . .

* * *

Sick Bay . . .

"So you're saying that _**I**_ can restore the colonel back to function?"

"Exactly, Carol."

Carol Kirk blinked as she considered that, and then she sighed. "But how, Mister Seven? I know - I can _**feel**_ - what the Silence can do to someone like me! If she's gone through that, there's utterly NO WAY KNOWN to recover what knowledge was lost!"

A wry smile then crossed Gary Seven's face. The Terran-descent Aegis supervisor had managed to make his way aboard _Haida_ thanks to Moroboshi Negako, who was able to override certain of the Canadian starship's internal sensors to ensure the visitor from out of mainstream temporal phase could come aboard without detection. They were now in one of the isolation rooms in _Haida_'s medical station, the doorway physically barred and with all sound blocked off to ensure no one would look inside and see who was now with the young Terran-form Questor and the Terran-turned-Avalonian ninjutsu grandmaster. "Yes, that's true," he said. "Try as my own supervisors have over thousands of years, we have not been able to find any way to recover what was lost so long ago from the oldest of your kind." A tired sigh escaped him. "And that hurts us. A lot." At Carol's surprised look, he added, "Many of my instructors were actually Questors, of several birth races. They've been of incredible aide to the Aegis over the centuries."

"Gary, explain something to me," Negako then stated. "When this original Silence occurred, did it completely REMOVE that knowledge from their DNA? Or did it simply OVERWRITE it, thus leaving them blank slates for them to evolve anew?"

Surprised by that question, Seven took a moment to consider it, and then he nodded. "I see where you're going with this, Negako. Yes, I think it was more or less a total rewrite of everything." He breathed out, a wry chuckle escaping him. "I can't believe it! After all this time, why didn't we consider something like THAT . . .?"

"Because you made a fundamental mistake in dealing with them, I believe."

He gazed at Negako, his eyebrow arching. "Aren't YOU the one who always says to drop all titles about people, Negako?" he then asked.

"And I spoke the truth. But I was speaking in a context of a person's _soul_, Gary. Not their _bodies_. In that, there are always differences. All I have always advised you and others like you who have come to me through the _Te'a_ seeking my advice is to not confuse the needs of the body with the overriding needs of the spirit. Still, in _**this**_ case, you cannot ignore the fact that - even if she does physically look like a human being - Carol is in fact a very highly advanced synthezoid."

He nodded. "Like Shogai Dakejinzō, you mean."

"Exactly like her. Look for yourself."

She reached over and tapped a control on a dataPADD sitting on the work table beside Carol's diagnostic bed, and then turned the device over so the Aegis supervisory agent from Earth could look at the image there. He glanced at it . . . and then gaped in shock. "They're exactly the same! It's exactly the damned SAME!"

"Indeed," Negako stated. "The only difference between Carol and Dakejinzō is that Carol is Terran-form and Dakejinzō herself is fashioned after whoever created her approximately five million years ago. My only conclusion from this is that someone from your dimension breached into my own dimension to bring the knowledge of how to creator Questor-like synthezoids into my dimension . . . or the opposite happened and such knowledge was brought into your dimension from mine." She paused as she considered that, and then she said, "If you have time - and you can make time, of course - come visit me and I will introduce you to Dakejinzō. Perhaps in learning about her, you can come to better understand her counterparts here." She indicated Carol. "In doing so, I believe you will do much to boost her spirits. To make Dakejinzō see she is not a 'race of one.'"

Seven looked at her, and then he nodded. "I'll make the time."

"Excellent . . . "

A doorbell chimed. "I got it, Negako-sama!" Tsukihana called over the intercom.

Negako walked over as Seven stepped out of visual range of the doorway to ensure the young genius from Chichibu didn't see him. She opened the door, holding her hand out. A small crystal was placed into the palm of her hand. "Return back to your current duties, Tsukihana. I will explain this at a future time," she bade.

"Hai!"

Negako then closed the door before holding up the crystal for Seven's inspection. "The first prototype Power Jewel for this dimension," he mused.

"Not anywhere close to what Deannette Raeburn possesses, but it has the same capabilities," she stated as she closed her hand over it and then concentrated. After a moment of her hand glowing to infuse the crystal with ki, she then relaxed before she handed it to Carol. "Now, Carol, do not forget this. You must be physically aboard the _Enterprise_-E - or whatever ship Jean-Luc is in command of at that time - before Stardate 50893.5. Shortly after that time, he will become involved in an attempt by the Borg to prevent the positive outcome of the events of 5 April 2063. If it is possible, seek out Glorianna at that time. Gary confirms she was in the area of Bozeman in Montana when those events occurred, so you can contact her. When you do so . . . " A sigh. "Trust in what you learned from your father in that case."

Carol blinked, and then her eyes widened as the significance of that date came to her. "They're going to try to stop _First Contact_?" she hissed out; she had learned all about the Borg from the programming she received from Dujduy and Heva.

"Exactly," Seven stated.

A sigh escaped her. "Looks like I'm going to the Academy."

She held out her hand. Negako placed the crystal in it . . .

* * *

Captain's Personal Log, Stardate 48637.4,_  
All personnel from _Enterprise_ have disembarked from _Haida_ to Starbase 105 for eventual reassignment or return to their homes and loved ones. The remnants of the _Enterprise_-D have been taken under the control of the base's engineering section for full analysis. Admiral Quinn has ordered Captain Kirk to take aboard anyone who wishes temporary assignment to the _Enterprise_-A for the time being; the ship will remain in operational status until either the _Enterprise_-D is re__-__commissioned or a new _Enterprise_-E is constructed and commissioned into Starfleet. Jim has invited myself and the other senior staff of the _Enterprise_-D to remain aboard the _Enterprise_-A for the time being so that we could spend time with the veterans of his crew - Ambassador Spock, Admiral McCoy, Captain Scott, Admiral Uhura, President Sulu and Grand Admiral Chekov to name a few - to better understand how life was like a century ago, when the Federation was much smaller and the technology wasn't as advanced._

* * *

_Enterprise_-A, the bridge . . .

"_Haida_, this is _Enterprise_," Uhura said as she sat at her old place, looking as if nothing had really changed for her in the past seventy-eight years since she was just a communications officer. "We have you approaching us on departure course from Starbase 105. Please advise when you will commence dimensional warp."

"_Enterprise_, this is _Haida_," Brian Gamblin's voice called back. "We are now preparing for dimensional warp and will commence the evolution in five minutes . . . mark. Please stay a minimum of one hundred kilometres away from either ourselves or _Arizona_ when we commence the warp to prevent being sucked in with us."

"Acknowledged, _Haida_." The admiral then smiled. "From all of us, Captain . . . all our hopes. Good luck and have a Happy New Year back home."

A familiar woman's laugh. "So we shall, Nyota-san," Moroboshi Hiromi called back. "May the Heavens watch over you all in the times ahead, my friends."

"And you as well, Hiromi," Jim Kirk called out from the centre seat after tapping a control to link into the signal between the refurbished Constitution-class explorer and the Canadian Type One star battleship/carrier soon to pass by her.

"Oh, one other thing . . . "

"What's that?"

"If you DO make a reciprocal visit to our dimension, PLEASE don't bring anything we can't handle! Like the _Borg_!" the reborn emperor then pleaded. "It would be SO bothersome!"

Amused laughter echoed over the old starship's bridge. "We'll keep it in mind, Hiromi!" Jean-Luc Picard, who was seated at the ship's services station between the two main turbolift doors, called out over the snickers and guffaws.

"Please do so!" Hiromi replied. "Oh, a final signal will come by Morse lamp, Jim; you should read it before we head off! Farewell, everyone!"

The link with _Haida_ was cut. "Put _Haida_ on the screen, Mister Data," Kirk said.

"Aye, sir," the android - who had assumed the former helm station, with Hikaru Sulu standing beside him - said as he tapped controls.

The image turned from that of the starbase to that of two large starships, one painted Royal Canadian Navy light blue-grey, the other United States Navy haze grey, heading into deep space side-by-side, five kilometres separating their hulls. As they approached the area where the strangely-naked primary hull of the _Enterprise_-D was now floating, the people on the bridge of the older _Enterprise_ were quick to note something. "They're flying their war flags!" Montgomery Scott, at the former navigation post that had been once manned by Pavel Chekov, exclaimed on seeing the large flags - the Canadian White Ensign on _Haida_ and the fifty-star Stars and Stripes on _Arizona_ - flying from their upper mainmasts. "Why the devil are they . . .?" he began . . .

. . . before his voice caught on seeing both ships dip their flags as they passed the remains of the current vessel named _Enterprise_. On seeing that, silence fell over the older ship's bridge as the two starships from another dimension proceeded on before raising their flags to full staff as they were passing well clear of the _Enterprise_-A, and then the colours were drawn into the masts as they prepared for hyperluminal manoeuvres.

"It appears we are about to receive a new ship."

Eyes locked on Data. "Are ye alright, lad?" Scott asked.

The android gazed on him, and then nodded. "I am well, Mister Scott. However, I now recall reading about the fate of the second H.M.C.S. _Huron_. What _Haida_ and _Arizona_ just did in salute to the _Enterprise_-D is similar to an incident involving the _Huron_ after the end of her service in the Canadian Navy." He gazed on the others, noting their curious looks. "In 2007 - having been decommissioned two years before due to lack of personnel to man her - _Huron_ was sunk in Operation: Trident Fury off the coast of Vancouver Island as part of a live-fire exercise by the 76 millimetre cannon of her own sistership _Algonquin_. One of the ships that participated in that exercise was the American guided missile frigate U.S.S. _Curtz_. When _Huron_ was sinking, _Curtz_ raised her war ensign to salute to a ship that had served her navy for over three decades. It was a most remarkable show of respect that service personnel in the Canadian Navy never forgot."

The others on the bridge nodded. "I think it's a pity that we've lost some of those traditions," William Riker said before he perked. "Morse lamp!"

Eyes locked on the image of _Haida_ as a blinking light flashed from the area close to her main bridge. It was a quick message of about five sentences, one that some of the people on the bridge were quick to comprehend. At the end of it - just as the exhausts on the main drives on both _Haida_ and _Arizona_ began to glow to mark their hyperluminal systems activating for a warp out of this dimension and time - Jim Kirk then laughed as he sat back in his chair. "Well, that was nice of her," he mused.

"Could someone translate?" Leonard McCoy asked from his usual spot near one of the turbolift stations, quite close to where Picard was seated.

Data gazed on the retired surgeon-general. "'To Captain Kirk: Please remember this. It is not the destination you seek that should be important. It is the journey itself. And always believe that some journeys simply are never meant to end.'"

People on the bridge then gazed on the veteran captain who had commanded two starships named _Enterprise_. "Sound advice," Kirk then stated as he watched the two starships from another dimension and time disappear in a blaze of Cherenkov radiation. "Once the disturbance of their warping out of here fades out, Commander Data, set a course."

"Any particular destination, Captain?"

Kirk pointed directly ahead. "That away."

Data blinked as those of his shipmates tensed, expecting the android to be confused . . . but then they gaped as he smiled. "Second star to the right, sir?"

"And straight on 'till morning," Kirk said, nodding.

"Aye-aye, sir."

People then grinned as the United Starship _Enterprise_ returned once more to her true home . . .

* * *

The main observation lounge in the secondary hull . . .

"Are you alright, Guinan?"

The El-Aurian - who had been permitted to come aboard the old starship for her return trip to Earth - perked on hearing that concerned question, and then she turned to smile at Lal. "I'm getting better, Lal. How are you doing?"

"I am well," she stated as she watched _Haida_ and _Arizona_ disappear. "It was a most remarkable adventure we just engaged in. I will miss them very much."

"So will I. But maybe it was right for them to come here."

The young android perked. "How so?"

"They gave us a little hope."

Lal considered that for a moment, and then she nodded. "Including you."

The multi-centenarian blinked, and then she smiled. "Yeah."

Both then turned to gaze onto the passing stars . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	17. The Silence Before The New Game

Elsewhere, else when . . .

"Secure from dimensional warp, Captain!"

"Status?" Brian Gamblin asked.

"_Arizona_ is where she's supposed to be, sir!" combat officer Commander Jason Keller stated as he gazed on his status board. "We're approaching Earth right now, just passed the orbit of the Moon. Radar-jamming systems are activated. We've got two contacts ahead of us, both in close orbit over Japan . . . "

"Captain!"

Gamblin looked over to Hatano Aoi. "What is it, Aoi?"

"Sir, I'm picking up _Yamato_'s ID beacon!"

Silence.

"_**WHAT?**_" people screamed out.

"Ops, Radio One!"

Keller tapped a control. "Go, Radio One."

"Sir, the _Yamato_'s signalling us!" CPO2 Nathan Cotter stated from the main communications room as people's eyes locked on the sight of the Japanese starship now looming ahead of her Canadian and American sisterships, floating some distance away from an orange-shaded, tiger-striped, arrowhead-shaped vessel that was unmistakably a Kashin-class battlewagon, the same type of ship that, over a year before, had changed human history by its appearance in the skies over a small Japanese town named Tomobiki. "It's the Director's brother!"

"ONII-SAN?" Hiromi bellowed from her location. "Pipe it up here, Chief!"

"Aye-aye, ma'am!"

The image on the main view screen switched to _Yamato_'s combat information centre, where a smiling man flanked by two familiar women was now seated at the end of the main plotting table. "Onii-san! Shikuko-san! Miyako-san!" Hiromi gasped.

"Hey, Hiromi-chan!" Moroboshi Ataru called out. "What took you guys so long?"

* * *

_Haida_, the wardroom, fifteen minutes later . . .

"So how on Earth did you know to come here right away, Saburō?"

The captain of the Japanese Starship _Yamato_, _Ittō Kaisa_ Umezu Saburō, smiled before nodding his thanks as one of the stewards placed the cup of _sencha_ on the table before him. "As soon as _Haida_ phased out of our home dimension, Tom-san, I had a wide sweep scan done of the whole area around us to figure out what was going on," he said before taking a sip of the delightful green tea. "We were quick to notice that missing battlewagon that had been secured to the side of the bioroid factory. A quick scan of the area around it showed that it had gone to a different dimension than where _Haida_ went. Since you were planning to go after _Haida_ directly under Negako-sama's direction, I decided to take _Yamato_ out to find out who stole the battlewagon. Ataru-kun and his delightful companions came aboard before we left; Tariko-san herself went aboard the factory to finally determine what had been happening with those two gestation towers that had been blocked off from outside access for so long." He then gazed on the four young girls who had been brought to the wardroom to join the meeting between Moroboshi Hiromi, her two siblings and the three starship captains, who were also accompanied by their executive officers: Commander David Choquette of _Haida_, Captain Ronald "Slider" Kerner of _Arizona_ and _Nitō Kaisa_ Kadomatsu Yōsuke of _Yamato_.

"How soon did you arrive here, Onii-san?" Hiromi asked her brother.

Ataru shrugged before sipping his red pepper powder-spiced ginseng tea. "About an hour ago. After the captain took some time to make sure all the systems were okay after we made the transition, we started sending hails to the _Freedom_." A glance to the four survivors of _The Program_. "That's the name you gave her, right?"

All four of them nodded. "They won't answer," Sakaki Yūko then advised.

"Because they're too scared that the Director will make sure they stay here, right?" Kerner asked, his voice edged with anger. Like many aboard _Arizona_, learning that the insane universe of _Battle Royale_ was _**real**_ had shocked the veteran F-14 radio interceptor officer. A glance to Umezu - who once commanded a Yukinami-class AEGIS destroyer, J.D.S. _Mirai_, in a mission that saw her phased into a different _dimension_ and _back in time_ to the Pacific side of World War Two! - made him wonder how bad the members of _Yamato_'s crew were taking this; the news had been beamed over to them as soon as she had made contact with _Haida_. "Maybe take the ship away before you blast the hell out of the sorry fucks that decided you'd kill each other just to get their jollies, right?"

"Ron . . . " Tom Kazanski moaned out.

He jolted, and then he sighed. "Sorry, Ice."

"It's alright, Kerner-taisa," Etō Megumi said, grinning. "We've heard worse." She sat back in her chair. "Did anyone from _Freedom_ respond, Umezu-taisa?"

A shake of the head. "No, they have not. Perhaps with you ladies - and all your male classmates - now involved, we can get a positive answer from them."

The four Shiroiwa Junior High School seniors nodded. "The Staff is still in the midst of re-acquiring energy before it could be used again, oh Emperor," Inada Mizuho then stated as she gazed on Hiromi. "While we could speak to our friend Noriko or to any of the others to convince them of your sincere desire to see them return back to our proper home dimension, they will not trust you if I do not have the Staff with me."

Hiromi sighed. She was tempted to snap at the younger girl with her usual "I am an emperor of _nothing_!" statement in the wake of her being addressed by the title she had possessed in her first life, but now wasn't the time to upset the young woman who would be a critical key to the success of the mission she was now starting to envisage in the wake of a scan of the _Freedom_ done by _Haida_ to report the general health of all the young Terran-tuned-Avalonian _Program_ survivors aboard. "I have a good idea of what to do when it concerns the Greater East Asia Republic once we help the others obtain the necessary DNA samples for the other men to take back to the factory. We will need the Staff at a much greater level of power than it is right now to see it work well."

"So we're _**not**_ going to blast the hell out of those bastards?" Ataru demanded.

"Pity!" Kadomatsu spat, which made Umezu stare in shock at his executive officer; even during _Mirai_'s fateful maiden voyage to another dimension and timeline, Kadomatsu had stuck hard to the general beliefs and philosophies which governed the Japanese Self-Defence Forces these days. The primary one was to **_never_** launch an offensive war on ANYONE! "I was looking forward to some target practice."

"Amen to that, Yōsuke. Amen to that," Kerner affirmed, nodding.

"Much that I sympathise with you all concerning your feelings with this matter, the flat-out destruction of the Republic's military forces and government will do nothing in the long term to put an end to _The Program_ once and for all, my friends," Hiromi stated, and then she perked. "Saburō-san, do you have your electronic warfare personnel monitoring signals emitting from Japan and the other areas I warned you of?"

"I ordered it before we came here, once one of my crew gave me a brief rundown of the manga; I've never read the novel or seen the movie and I'm not really into more recent manga series as a whole these days," Umezu replied. "They have orders to alert me immediately if they detect anything that indicates another 'episode' of _The Program_ is about to begin. People throughout the ship's crew and the 4th Battalion are already volunteering for the rescue party."

Rueful chuckles around the room. "I do not believe another 'episode' will start very soon, Lord Captain Umezu," Mizuho stated, making the elderly Maritime Self-Defence Force captain blush at her formal mode of address. "Thanks very much to the actions of people like Master Shōgo and our good friend Shinji, the actual support mechanisms for _The Program_ were badly damaged when Noriko and Shūya were able to affect their escape to the mainland of Honshū from Oki-shima. Do we know what day it is now?"

"Let's find out," Brian Gamblin - who, as _Haida_'s commanding officer, sat at the head of the table - said before tapping a control. "Captain to EWCR."

"EWCR, Gibberly here."

"Are we tracking surface signals right now, PO?"

"Yes, sir!" PO2 Ken Gibberly replied. "All coming in as clear as broadband over our receivers. Still nothin' about another 'episode' . . . " - everyone in the wardroom sensed the torrent of disgust in the naval electronic sensor operator's voice on his saying that word - " . . . of _The Program_ on any channel coming from Japan."

"What's the date and local time in Tōkyō right now?"

"Wait one, Captain," Gibberly replied, and then he called back, "Current date is Thursday, the twenty-seventh of June, sir. They're using a local year-dating system, though: 'Republic Year 56,' whatever that means. Tōkyō local time, 1043 hours."

"Stand by, PO," Gamblin said. "Girls?"

"The fifty-sixth year of the Republic is the year 2000 in your terms, Lord Captain," Mizuho warned.

"It's the Thursday right after our event ended," Minami Kaori then added. "According to Izumi-chan, all episodes of _The Program_ run their 'homeroom' period first thing on Friday morning, then let it run for the whole weekend. It's broadcast live."

"But with the death of Kamon Yonemi and the injuries inflicted on the Republic Army personnel that were there on Oki-shima, there might be a delay," Hiromi mused.

"I doubt it."

Eyes locked on _Yamato_'s executive officer. "What do you mean?" Ataru wondered.

"It only makes sense that there would be rotating 'production' teams to handle something like multiple weekly episodes," Kadomatsu warned. "This thing runs fifty times a year, right?" As the four junior high school girls who had been born in this dimension all nodded - the revelation that _The Program_ was a weekly event here (when in the manga, it was a once-a-year affair) had shocked both Ataru and Hiromi - he then gazed on the others. "While I'm sure there's been something of a morale blow due to the death of one of the site directors - and him being killed by a PARTICIPANT! - I don't think something like this would be slowed down _that_ much."

"Yeah, that would make sense," Kerner said as the others all looked horrified at the idea that what they were dealing with - since it WAS a special military project! - _would_ be run on the clock even with "interruptions." "Chances are there they might have just gathered new 'contestants' together and are getting ready to start filming."

"Oh, damn!" Choquette breathed out.

Gamblin tapped a control. "Captain to EWCR!"

"EWCR, Gibberly here, sir."

"PO, get everyone you can muster into monitoring every signal that comes out of Japan. We may be looking at a possible new episode of _The Program_ starting tomorrow." He then perked as something came to him before he gazed at the four young former _Program_ participants. "Do you know which station this thing is shown on, by any chance?"

"It's broadcast on all the main stations, Taisa-san," Megumi reported. "DHK-1 runs it live. DHK-2 tapes it for replay during the evening hours for those who aren't able to watch the live show due to work or school. DHK-3 does hourly recaps."

"You hear that, PO?"

"Loud and clear, Captain!" PO2 Gibberly replied. "Delta-Hotel-Kilo Station One for the live show! We'll see if they're running commercials about it."

"Shout it out if they do!"

"Aye-aye, sir!"

* * *

A hundred kilometres away . . .

"So they're just floatin' out there doin' nothin'?"

"So it seems," Chigusa Takako stated as she gazed on the main view screen of the _Freedom_'s bridge, located - as was typical for any ship whose design ultimately arose from the planet Uru - on the underside of the main hull ahead of amidships. The screen was showing the three Earth Defence Force battleships in an arrowhead formation, their bows pointed at the "borrowed" battlewagon with _Haida_ in the middle and _Yamato_ on the Canadian ship's starboard side. "What're the sensors saying, Satomi?"

Noda Satomi sighed as she looked on the readout before her. Thanking the heavens that the Niphentaxians as a whole had adopted the Japanese language as their "native" tongue after the move of their "goddess" to Earth eight months before Satomi herself had awoken inside a gestation tube in a dimension other than the one of her birth and brief life to date, she tapped controls to bring up a full-spectrum readout of the three quite deadly ships nearby. The response to her scan inquiry made her blink. "Odd."

Shimizu Hirono, who was acting as "officer of the watch" on this, the morning shift the _Program_ survivors had been running on _Freedom_ since they got teleported back to their home dimension a day before, looked over. "What's wrong, 'Tomi?"

"No weapon systems activated anywhere on _Haida_, _Arizona_ or _Yamato_, Hirono," the bespectacled woman with the wavy brown hair and the deep brown eyes stated as she gazed wide-eyed at the punky girl with the lavender hair and grey eyes who was the number-three on _Freedom_. "No shields up save for basic navigation deflectors. They seem to have electronics counter-measures active; I can't scan inside the interior of any of the ships. Their listening devices are all turned on and tuned towards the planet."

Hirono and Takako blinked. "Nothing towards us?" the latter asked.

A shake of the head. "Nothing, Takako."

Both girls - along with Nakagawa Noriko and Sōma Mitsuko, Shimizu Hirono, Chigusa Takako and Noda Satomi formed an "executive planning committee" to administer everything for the _Program_ participants so far rescued by the Staff of Gihan; even if the Shiroiwa Junior High School seniors were the chronologically latest participants in _The Program_ to be given new lives as Avalonians, all the others who had been restored to life after their awakening on the bioroid factory always deferred to them as they had been the first ones actually to be "reborn" on the factory - took a moment to consider that, and then they exchanged an intensive look before gazing once more on the image of the three Earth Defence Force ships floating nearby. "Why are they listening to things on the planet?" Mitsuko's number two then wondered aloud, and then she blinked. "Unless . . . "

"Unless what?" the green-eyed, red-haired Takako demanded.

A shrug. "They want to help us?"

Silence.

"But we don't belong in their universe, Hirono-san!" the young girl manning the weapons station, Nagata Anna, then stated. She was one of the earlier _Program_ participants, having been part of the first-ever all-girls class to be forced to kill or be killed all the way back in 1949, the sixth episode that year. Given the fact that all the 66,377 girls now aboard _Freedom_ - even with the massive numbers on the ship compared to what was normal for a vessel of this size, there was enough room for them to be comfortable even if the food replicators would be pressed a bit before they could set up a ground base and start hunting for real food from local points of supply like farms and supermarkets - were all third-year middle school students with an average physical/emotional age of between 15 and 17 years, it had long become the standard amongst them to wear replicas of their school uniforms. Hirono couldn't keep track of names or schools save for her own classmates, whom she now felt closer to than she had ever been to anyone before this madness had begun. Hence, the nametags everyone - even the Shiroiwa girls, who were practically well-known to everyone else now aboard _Freedom_ - wore. "Why would they help us?"

"Don't know, Anna," Hirono breathed out, and then she moaned. "Damn . . . "

"Kaori's safe, Hirono," Takako advised. "You know for a fact that Mizuho would NEVER allow Kaori or Megumi to be hurt! She would die first!"

The other girl nodded. "Yeah. And we got Yūko to worry about, too . . .!" Hiromi mused as she gazed upon Satomi - she was Sakaki Yūko's bond-mate - and then she shook her head. "Chiaki!" she called to the girl now manning the communications station, Kiriyama Chiaki - no relation to Kazuo - the _Program_ survivor from the seventeenth show in 1966. "Holler up to Noriko and Mitsuko. Tell 'em to get down here right away! We need 'em!"

A nod. "Right away, Hirono-san!"

Takako then turned to Satomi. "What's the state of the bio-scan?"

Satomi smirked. "Never thought you'd ask, Takako. It's 99.7 percent done."

Silence.

"How soon?" Hirono gasped as all the girls on the bridge gaped.

"Give the system another fourteen minutes," the bespectacled girl then replied. "Once that's done, I'm going to do a complete double-check to make sure we all got it right. That should take another four hours or so before I'd be confident enough to say we have the right DNA scans for _all_ the guys. We can't mix something like THIS up!"

"Amen to that, sister . . . "

"What's going on, Hiro?"

Everyone turned, and then all the people at their stations rose to deeply bow to their community elder mother, Nakagawa Noriko, now accompanied by her nominal number-two, Sōma Mitsuko. Like their peers, the lone female survivor of the latest episode of _The Program_ and the most successful female participant in that self-same episode were in school uniforms with name-tags on them even of all the other _Program_ contestants knew them all by sight. "Please sit, everyone," Noriko said as she and Mitsuko stepped off the lift that connected the bridge to the main hull. "What is it, Hirono-san?" she then asked as she and Mitsuko joined their classmates.

"Look there, Boss Lady," Hirono said as she thumbed the main view screen.

Noriko looked . . . and then she blinked on seeing the three starships nearby. "Which ones?" she then asked as she then gazed on Satomi.

"H.M.C.S. _Haida_, U.S.S. _Arizona_ and J.S. _Yamato_," Satomi replied.

"What are they doing, 'Tomi?" Mitsuko wondered.

Satomi sighed. "No weapons activated. Only navigational deflectors have been raised. They're not bothering to scan us - I can't scan back due to their ECM being up - and they're listening in on all signals emanating from Japan."

The two new arrivals blinked, and then Noriko turned back to gaze on _Haida_. The others on the bridge fell silent as they waited for their leader - who often didn't feel like much of a leader; she had been made the effective _ashi'cha_ of their whole group since she was the last girl to survive _The Program_ and she and Kanai Izumi had convinced Inada Mizuho to use the Staff to save everyone else's souls from the final embrace of the _Te'a_ and what lay Beyond - to consider what to do, and then make a decision.

"Why are you here, Hiromi-sempai . . .?" she whispered . . .

* * *

Meanwhile, on Earth . . .

"They're all HUMAN?"

"Or at least very close to Earth-humanoid normal, sir. As they look physically to us. The cameras got some clear shots of what we believe is the command bridge of the alien ship. It's got a large number of people working there now. All humanoid. Even stranger, they're all women. And young-looking ones, too."

The President of the United States of America blinked, and then held out his hand. "Let me see the pictures," he asked in his soft Arkansas twang.

The Director of the National Security Agency handed them over. As the people at the table in the meeting room waited for the nation's chief executive to examine the pictures that had been brought to this late evening emergency meeting at the White House, many of them took the time to gaze on the long-range shots taken by satellites that had detected the presence of the giant alien ship in stationary high orbit over the home islands of the Greater East Asia Republic - many in the room still thought "Japan" when they did think of that oldest of rogue nations and the last surviving member of the Axis that had started World War Two - not more than a day ago.

It was worrisome.

The spaceship - at best estimates - was well over 4,000 feet long, had a maximum beam of 1,100 feet, was well close to 1,500 feet tall and probably massed over four million long tons in Earth gravity. It was clearly a warship of some type; the satellites had picked up on dozens of retractable gun emplacements all over the hull, not to mention many missile tubes and several hangar bays with catapults visible in them which could launch some type of space fighter (though nothing had been launched from her ever since it had appeared in the immediate space around Earth). And while it seemed quite threatening, it had done utterly nothing save _sit_ out there! It was in some sort of geo-synchronous orbit directly over Tōkyō; that had been confirmed by both NASA and the NSA. No one knew what sort of purpose would bring such a craft to Earth; all the experts at Area 51 in the Nevada Test and Training Range were totally stumped over what the coming of this vessel might mean for Earth and all her inhabitants.

"School uniforms . . . "

The NSA Director perked. "Mister President?"

"They're all wearing school uniforms," the President noted. "Similar to the 'sailor suit' uniforms that you see in Japan and all across the Far East."

The others at the table blinked before they took a look at the pictures that had been handed to them by the people from Fort Meade. "Could we find some way to get close-ups of these girls' faces?" the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs then asked.

"We're working on making a close pass of the bridge structure within the next five minutes, General," the NSA Director then reported after taking a chance to gaze on his watch. "Give the high altitude of the Visitor in comparison to how high our recon birds orbit the planet, it'll take a bit to boost one out to get a very close shot." He then gazed on America's chief executive. "Mister President, my staff have orders to relay what pictures they can get here as soon as possible. The initial prints will be transmitted by computer broadband straight into the Communications Agency offices here. Hard copies will follow by courier; that might take an hour, depending on traffic."

The President then nodded. "Has there been any attempts at opening communications with the Visitor?" then asked. "By us or anyone else?"

"No, sir," the director of the Central Intelligence Agency replied. "At least, not to our knowledge as of an hour ago. The Russians and the European Space Agency are the only other groups that have the ability to communicate with anything in deep space; they're just waking up to the fact that the Visitor is here as we speak. I recommend contacting President Putin and President Chirac about this as soon as possible."

"I'll do that later," the President stated. "What about Japan? If this thing is in orbit over Tōkyō, that means they might be interested in something there."

"We can't ascertain what such a purpose would be, sir," the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration then spoke up from his place near one end of the table. "We've been in constant teleconferences with the people at Groom Lake about this and NO ONE can agree as to what the Visitor's purpose here is."

"Speculate," the President ordered.

"Well, we're of the opinion that this is a peaceful first contact, to borrow the _Star Trek_ term," the New York City native replied. "Yes, this is clearly a warship; the photos of the weapon emplacements demonstrate that. But no weapon has been deployed . . . "

"Yet," the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs cut in.

A nod. "Yes, no weapons have been deployed yet. And they haven't done anything we can see which might bring harm to anyone on Earth. Again, yet," the Administrator then conceded with a glance to the Army general who was the senior serving officer of the American armed forces. "So if we don't do anything provocative, I think we are looking forward to a true close encounter of the third kind that will be peaceful and quite an eye-opener for all of us involved. Again, to borrow a movie analogy."

Chuckles around the room. "Why young girls?" the Vice-President asked.

"Most likely because - if this Visitor does come from a very technologically advanced society - their leaders are willing to trust the command of such a ship to such a young group of people, Mister Vice-President," the Administrator answered. "Again, I must remind you all, this is just guesswork we're doing. We could actually be encountering a race that is slow in aging physically for all we know." A shrug. "Unless we find some way to open contact with them and start learning things from them directly, all we have right now to run with are wild guesses."

The others at the table nodded. "So how do we ring the bell without making them think we're trying to rob them?" the Secretary of State then asked.

"Good point," the President mused . . .

. . . before a knock at the door turned everyone's attention to the Secret Service agent standing watch there. He opened the door and allowed a man to come in with a curt nod; the visitor had another USSS agent with him. "Mister President."

"Come in, Colonel," the chief executive bade as the man in the business suit - he had the bearing of a serving Marine officer despite his being in "civvies" - walked in, a folder in hand. "Are these the close-in shots of the Visitor's bridge?"

"Yes, sir, they are!" the new arrival said as he handed the folder over. "You have to look at the pictures to understand what's got everyone at Fort Meade jumping right now."

"What do you mean?" the NSA Director asked.

"Oh, my GOD!"

Heads snapped over as people gazed on the President. "Bill?" the Vice-President asked as he reached over to steady the now-shaking chief executive.

"Oh, my God . . . " the President breathed out before placing the computer print-out on the table. "That's _Noriko Nakagawa_ . . .!" he said as he pointed to the woman in the centre of the photo. "But . . . how in the name of God did she . . .?"

People's jaws in the room dropped in shock. Everyone in this room knew who _**that**_ young woman was; her escape from _The Program_ alongside her classmate had been national news in America. "How's that possible?" the CIA Director demanded. And with good reason; it was his agency that had been supporting those two brave kids who had just escaped from the most ghastly thing ever devised by man to kill his fellow man - or in this case, to kill his _children_! - not more than five days ago, even though they were staying currently in an FBI-owned safe house in Manhattan. "She's in New York with her boyfriend right now! How on Earth did she get aboard an _alien spaceship_?"

"That's not all, Mister Tenet," the colonel from the White House Communications Agency added. "Mister President, you notice the four girls standing around Miss Nakagawa, don't you?" At the President's nod, he added, "They're all wearing the same school uniform type. Shiroiwa Junior High School. One of my people watched that particular episode of _The Program_ and knows all the names. Those four other girls are Mitsuko Sōma, Hirono Shimizu, Takako Chigusa and Satomi Noda." As the others in the room stared at him, he added, "Miss Sōma, Miss Shimizu, Miss Chigusa and Miss Noda were four of the forty students in that particular class . . . that didn't make it out."

Stunned silence fell over the room . . .

* * *

_Haida_, the operations room . . .

"So the National Security Agency - with the assistance of the National Reconnaissance Office - is no doubt taking close-up pictures of the _Freedom_?"

"That's a strong bet, Director," Tom Kazanski stated as everyone sat or stood around the central plotting table of the Canadian starship. "_Freedom_ is just within the standard orbiting envelope of the KH-11 system the NRO makes use of for photo satellite recons. Since this is 2000 - and the technology we're scanning so far appears to be on par with or slightly more advanced than what existed in our dimension at that time - the chances are there that they're getting pretty good close-up shots of the bridge of that ship." _Haida_ had just detected close passes of the battlewagon by orbiting satellites. "If anyone in Washington recognises Miss Nakagawa . . . "

"It will raise a lot of questions," Brian Gamblin mused from his place at the captain's chair. "Especially if they also see the other girls."

Taking that in, Hiromi sighed. "Onē-sama, how far has the Staff been able to recharge itself after you used it to allow the boys to have their own bodies?"

"Since the DNA of the bodies had to be totally rewritten due to their being males instead of females, it took almost all the energy the Staff possessed at the time," Negako stated; she was standing beside Ataru at the port side of the table. "However, it appears that this dimension is similar enough to our own that the Staff is able to draw in ambient energy from the _Te'a_ to recharge itself more quickly than it could when you were in the Federation's universe. If you wish to unleash the effect you want on those who support or simply condone _The Program_'s existence, I would have to say that you will need to wait a day at the least." She then gazed on the four Shiroiwa Junior High School students standing nearby. "As Mizuho, Megumi, Kaori and Yūko confirmed, the first thing Satomi would begin doing on their arrival in this dimension is to commence a detailed DNA scan of the entire territory of the Greater East Asia Republic, from the environs of Manila all the way to the northern edges of Saxalin and Šumšu, to locate all the DNA samples for all the male _Program_ participants, not to mention those male _Program_ participants who survived their individual ordeals. That will concern them more than dealing with the government of the Republic, much less other powers."

"So we should just hold back and let them do it," Umezu Saburō mused.

"It would be the wisest thing. As the girls can also confirm, the others now on _Freedom_ will be paranoid, their personal feelings affected strongly by the sense of total rejection being forced to participate in _The Program_ unleashed on all of them to one extent or another. They believe they must come back here . . . but deep down, they truthfully wish to remain in our dimension. Convincing them that is what WILL have to happen will be easy as long as we do not unnecessarily alarm them before firmly convincing them of that fact. They are quite familiar with all the weapons systems on that ship and they are prepared to do whatever they can to defend themselves. After what _The Program_ forced them to experience, that is to be expected."

"Why don't we go over to talk to them?"

Eyes locked on Nanahara Shūya. He, along with a small group of the boys from Shiroiwa Junior High School Class 3-B - Kiriyama Kazuo, Mimura Shinji, Sugimura Hiroki and Kawada Shōgo - had been asked to attend this meeting. "That might be the best thing to do, Hiromi-chan," Ataru then said from his place next to his sister. "The guys represent what the girls are ultimately after right now. If they see them - especially Noriko-chan seeing Shūya and Shōgo - then they'll be more than convinced that we're serious."

Hiromi hummed. "Your opinion of this, my friends," she then bade the other young men in the room. "I can certainly understand Shōgo-san's and Hiroki-san's desire to reunite as quickly as they can with their girlfriends, but what of the rest of you?"

"It would be the rational thing to do," Kazuo answered. "Much that I personally do not understand a lot of what others would see as normal - even now - I do realise that all of the girls have come to inherit Shūya's optimism when it comes to this whole exercise. They see ultimate success in this whole endeavour in the restoration of ALL the male _Program_ participants - all 42,441 of us - to life, then to locate a place where we can all settle down and get on with our lives without fear of reprisal from the government of the Greater East Asia Republic or anyone who would support their cause. By learning that we are once again corporeal - which would reduce the number of men still disembodied to 42,420 - that will give the girls hope. Especially our female classmates as Noriko is seen as _ashi'cha_ and the others in our class as the senior spiritual leaders of the group as a whole."

The others nodded. "It should be us as well as Kazuhiko and Yōji. Plus either yourself, Hiromi-sempai, or someone you delegate in your place," Hiroki added.

"That'll be more than enough to fit into a Space Dhow, Captain," _Haida_'s chief boatswain mate, Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Eugene Bennett, then advised. "With a cox'n as driver."

"Get one set up, Buffer," Gamblin ordered.

"Aye-aye, sir!"

* * *

Moments later . . .

"How come we can't come with you, Boss?"

Kazuo sighed as he gazed on the members of his gang. Everyone had gathered in the ship's port boat bay to board one of the CSV-192 Space Dhow short-range shuttles for the trip over to the _Freedom_. "The girls are - while they are hopeful of the success of their current task - still paranoid because of their belief that Hiromi-sempai will force them and us to remain in this dimension." Before Numai Mitsuru could protest, Kazuo raised a hand to calm him. "Yes, it's not rational, Mitsuru, but remember this: We all went through a very irrational and traumatic experience."

"Then why's Mizuho stayin' here, Boss?" Kuronaga Hiroshi asked.

"I must remain since the other girls will automatically feel safer if the Staff is within my possession, friend Hiroshi," Mizuho answered from nearby. "And I fear I may give into the temptation of unleashing the Great Emperor's suggested punishment onto the miscreants that so willingly destroyed our lives far too early for it to have the maximum effect she desires. Remember this, my friends: We are, at the very least, a DAY away from another episode of _The Program_ being unleashed on another group of helpless innocents. Our goal in the end is to put a stop to _The Program_ once and for all. We cannot say we've done that if any of the groups that are actively preparing new episodes escape what we plan to unleash on them all, can we not?"

The other guys considered that, and then they nodded. "At most, we'll be about twenty minutes before we can get the rest of you to use a materialiser to come over," Kazuo added before he beckoned the members of his gang over to one side, out of earshot of Mizuho, who was now conversing with Megumi and Kaori. "Mitsuru, Ryūhei, Hiroshi, Shō: Stay very close to Mizuho. Negako-san says she's coming along nicely when it comes to fully mastering the Staff's power, but there is a chance she might slip and unleash things too early."

The four members of his gang nodded. "You got it, Boss," Mitsuru said.

With that, they headed back so that Kazuo could board the Space Dhow, which was about the same size as any of the _Enterprise_'s Type 7 shuttlecraft. "You're back in charge again, Kyōichi," Shūya then said to one of the former _iinch__ō_ of Class 3-B, Motobuchi Kyōichi, before he ducked into the shuttlecraft. "Don't burn the place down, huh?"

"Oh, don't you worry about that, Shūya darling!" Shō promised as he draped an arm around Kyōichi, which made the smaller man awk in shock as he tried to struggle to get free of that embrace. "I'll make sure Kyōichi darling doesn't misbehave!"

"Hey! Get off me, Shō!" Kyōichi yelped.

"Try not to break Shō's heart, Kyōichi," Kazuo then said in his normally toneless voice. "I would be _most_ displeased if that happened to him."

Stunned silence fell as everyone gaped at the former gang leader, and then he calmly stepped onto the Space Dhow. After the door closed up and the small shuttle moved to launch from _Haida_, the boys who remained behind all began to gape. "Holy fuck! I don't believe it!" Mitsuru then exclaimed. "The BOSS made a JOKE!"

He, Hiroshi and Ryūhei exchanged looks, and then they howled with delight as they high-fived each other before falling over laughing their guts out . . .

* * *

The _Freedom_ . . .

"Noriko-san!"

"What is it, Aki-san?" Noriko demanded as she looked over.

"A small shuttle just launched from _Haida_!" the girl who was manning the main combat sensor station, Maeda Aki - she was a player in the twenty-eighth show in 1985 - reported. "Port-side boat bay; I think they call that type of ship a Space Dhow! It's coming towards us right now!"

"'Tomi!" Hirono barked out.

"On it, Hirono!" Satomi said as she slid into her station, and then tapped controls to focus the battlewagon's impressive sensor suite on the approaching ship. "Doing a scan of the interior right now. There's no ECM jamming from it, much less from _Haida_ covering it!" She then blinked. "Wait a minute . . . " she breathed out.

"What is it?" Mitsuko demanded.

"That's not possible!"

"Damn it, 'Tomi! What the fuck's not possible?" Hirono roared.

A shake of the head. "I'm picking up all _Avalonian_ life signs from that Space Dhow, Hirono," she said as she gazed on her friends. "Including seven MALE ones!"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"Do you think Mizuho was right all along?"

Eyes locked on Takako. "How? Much less why, Taka?" Hirono demanded as she gazed on the track-and-field runner before a look of pained anguish then crossed her face. "Who would want us, for fuck's sake?" she then hissed out.

"Hirono-san, wait . . .!"

They stopped, turning to gaze on Noriko. "It might be something we don't want, Noriko," Mitsuko warned as she placed a supportive hand on her classmate's shoulder.

Noriko sighed. While she once would have NEVER had anything to do with a teenage prostitute like Mitsuko, the last several months had changed Noriko's opinions of the other woman thoroughly, especially in the wake of the revelation of what had happened to Mitsuko thanks to her late and definitely not-missed stepfather and her equally-monstrous mother. These days, the _ashi'cha_ of _The Program_ survivors had come to strongly trust her classmate's sharp survival instincts, which had urged them all to stay separate from their own "sisters" while aboard the bioroid factory over the last ten months, much less prepare for a possible return to the dimension of their birth.

Indeed, Hirono had it right just now; who on that other Earth would WANT a small city's worth of emotionally-scarred young men and women who hadn't - save for the once-in-a-lifetime intervention of something that was truly out of this world - survived the three-day hell-on-Earth known as _The Program_ . . .?

But still . . .

Had Mizuho been right all along?

Dare she . . .?

Noriko then sighed. "Satomi-san?"

"Hai?" Satomi asked.

"Do a DNA scan of whoever's in that shuttle."

Satomi blinked, and then she nodded. "I'll do that right now."

She turned to tap controls on her screen. "Noriko . . . " Mitsuko warned.

"Mitsuko-san, please. I won't let us be hurt," Noriko said as she gazed in assurance at the very shapely raven-haired beauty with the cold blue eyes of a born fighter.

Mitsuko blinked, and then she nodded in understanding; even if her own instincts were screaming to either stand and fight or run as far away as possible, she also often felt the overwhelming tsunami of hope that had infected all the others since this whole insane trip began. "What have you found?" she asked as she gazed at Satomi.

"Just a . . .!"

Everyone tensed on noting that Satomi had been stunned speechless by what she was now seeing. "Yo, 'Tomi! What's wrong?" Hirono demanded.

Satomi blinked, and then she whispered, "Yūko . . . "

"What?" Noriko demanded.

A joyous look then crossed the other girl's face. "It's Yūko, Noriko!" she said as she gazed with tearing eyes at her classmates. "And Kaori and Megumi, too!"

Both Hirono and Mitsuko nearly dropped to their knees in shock. "Who else?" Takako demanded. "Who are the guys over there, Satomi? Did Mizuho . . .?"

"Shūya . . . "

Stunned silence fell over the bridge.

"Shūya-kun?" Noriko gasped, her own green eyes tearing with joy.

Satomi nodded. "Shūya . . . Shinji . . . Shōgo . . . Hiroki . . . "

Takako cried out on hearing that last name. "Who else?" Hirono demanded.

"Yōji . . . Kazuhiko . . . and Kazuo!"

Silence.

"Oh, Mizu! You crazy, loony BITCH!" Hirono screamed out before she whooped as she grabbed Mitsuko in a bear hug and gave her a wet kiss, which made the other girl gasp before both began to laugh and cry as they held each other close.

The others on the bridge whooped their delight on hearing that. "Wait!" Takako then snapped. "Where IS Mizuho? Is she on that shuttle?"

"No," Satomi said, and then she blinked before she moved to tap controls. "I'm moving to scan for the Staff right now, Takako! Give me a . . . " She then blinked as a readout came up on the screen. "The Staff's on _Haida_ right now. The ECM on the ship isn't shielding our scans from picking up the meson radiation from the Staff, but it is blocking me from finding Mizuho via her DNA," she then reported before gazing on the others. "And it's at a low state of power. No doubt, Mizuho is staying with the Staff."

The others fell silent, and then Noriko sighed. "Chiaki-san?"

Kiriyama Chiaki perked. "Hai, Noriko-san?"

"Hail the shuttle, please."

"Hai!"

"Noriko!" Mitsuko hissed in warning.

Noriko sighed. "I won't let them aboard unless they submit to a full mind-scan, Mitsuko-san. They're Avalonians; they'll understand the need for caution."

The other girl stared at her, and then she nodded . . .

* * *

Meanwhile, back on Earth, in a different city . . .

"This is NOT possible!"

"The satellite pictures don't lie, sir!"

Sitting at his simple desk somewhere in the heart of the metropolis of Tōkyō, Tsugawa Masahiko could only blink several times as the total shock of what had just been brought to him sank in. "But this is simply impossible . . .!" the Minister of Interior Security of the Greater East Asia Republic then spat out. "How did this happen? Weren't Sōma, Shimizu, Chigusa and Noda confirmed dead in Event 56-30?"

"Yes, sir!" Anjō Gō, the Republic Army major who served as one of the minister's aides-de-camp when it came to _The Program_, affirmed with a nod. "We even have their bodies in the base morgue at Zentsūji, along with all the others who were killed in that event!" He pulled up a notebook and read from what was written there. "Shiroiwa Junior High School, Class 3-B, Female Student Number 13, Chigusa Takako: Shot dead. Female Student Number 10, Shimizu Hirono: Drowned. Female Student Number 17, Noda Satomi: Shot dead. Female Student Number 11, Sōma Mitsuko: Shot directly in the face at point-blank range, killed due to massive head trauma." He closed his book. "They are all dead, sir. As to how they're now ALIVE - and in different bodies to boot! - on that alien ship now, I can't begin to speculate!"

A shudder ran through the elderly man as he considered what had just been said, and then he moved to take a handkerchief to wipe down his face. "Could it really be them?" he wondered as he stood to walk over to his office window to gaze on the vast metropolis beyond. "Or is this some sort of mad trick? Android replicas, perhaps . . .?"

"The latter is a very strong possibility, sir," Anjō replied. "Personnel from both the Space Agency and the Intelligence Bureau are looking over what our Hō'ō reconnaissance satellites have revealed concerning this ship. The alien ship is quite large and could potentially hold _thousands_ of such beings within it quite easily. It may be within the realm of possibility that there are replicas of ALL the various _Program_ participants - alive and dead - aboard that ship. As to what purpose they would have for being here . . . " A shake of the head. "I can't say, Minister. No one can agree on what their purpose here is. I did - on your authority - order groups from the Internal Security Investigations Group to go out and . . . "

A knock at the door. "Minister?"

"Enter!" Tsugawa ordered.

The door opened, revealing another officer in the Republic Army, a captain. "This just came in from the Investigations Group, Minister," he said after deeply bowing to the older man, and then he presented the paper to him with both hands.

The minister took that with a nod of thanks, and then scanned the information there. A second later, his jaw dropped in disbelief. "That's not possible!"

"Sir?" Anjō asked.

Tsugawa moved to take his seat. "The Internal Security Investigations Group went out to locate all the known _Program_ winners. According to what they just found, NONE of them are **_alive_**!" As Anjō's jaw dropped in shock, the minister added, "While a full report is upcoming, initial investigations show that _Program_ winners normally were found DEAD at their family homes within two to four months of their event! All the way back from the first event in Year Three!" "Year Three" - _Kyōwakoku San-nen_ in Japanese, literally meaning "Third Year of the Republic" - corresponded to 1947 in the Gregorian calendar; the current year was the Fifty-sixth Year of the Republic or _Kyō__wakoku Goj__ū__roku-nen_. "Why on Earth didn't someone take note of _**this**_?"

"Most likely because the relatives of _Program_ winners didn't want to go public with the 'shame' of their children having actually participated - and even more so, having WON! - their specific event, Minister," Anjō suggested.

"_**WHAT?**_" Tsugawa snapped. "They should be PROUD of their children for having survived _The Program_! That's what this was all about all along!" He tossed the paper aside and then sat down. "This is some sort of damned trick!" he then asserted. "A trick to stir up the common folk against the Republic! Placing replicas of lost children in their grasp and they'll want to do ANYTHING to make sure they're alive and safe!"

"But, sir, if that was the actual plan, why are the aliens allowing themselves to be detected by us?" Anjō automatically protested. "Surely if that was true . . .!"

"Never you mind, Major!" the minister snarled. "Pass the alert to all internal security force district commanders! This might actually _not_ be an alien event but something started by the Americans! Probably from some damned experiment at their Area 51 base!" He waved the protesting major down as he added, "If ANY known participant of _The Program_ - regardless if they're officially alive or dead on the lists! - is seen, they are to be captured at once and brought in for interrogation! We'll get to the bottom of this soon enough!" He then gazed on the captain. "What about the preparations for Event 56-31?"

"We have gathered all the participants now, Minister," the captain answered with eagerness. In the wake of the Oki-shima Incident, all efforts had been pushed forward to ensure the continuation of _The Program_ without any delay. "They're being fitted with the collars and will be ready for homeroom class by the appointed time!"

"Excellent! Make sure the event begins on schedule!"

"Hai!"

_**To be continued . . .**_


	18. The Top Guns Fly Again

_Freedom_, the main hangar bay . . .

"Shūya . . . "

Hearing that stunned gasp from the crowd of people having gathered around the Space Dhow that just touched down on the battlewagon's main hangar deck, Nanahara Shūya blinked before he turned . . . and then grinned on seeing the girl now moving towards him. "Noriko!" he called out as he hopped down from the aft boarding ramp to allow her to run into his arms. "Hey! Go easy on me, huh?" he moaned as her extra-strong glomp nearly knocked the air right out of him. "I'm still trying to break this body in!"

"_**BAKA!**_" Noriko screamed out at him before she shuddered, and then she leaned into his embrace as the dam holding back her emotions finally collapsed.

Shūya remained in place as his co-escapee began to cry, though he was quick to sense telepathic probes enter his body from the close contact of his skin with Noriko's. That was to be expected; the girls now on _Freedom_ all fervently believed right now that they would be forced back into the dimension of their birth and wouldn't trust anything or anyone coming from the Earth Defence Force without making sure of it. He then began to wonder WHY that belief had started up inside his classmates and the others. If Avalonians as a race looked upon ANY action that badly hurt a child - especially if such actions were done by parents or other adult authorities - as so heinous that delivering DEATH to the perpetrators seemed the right punishment . . .?

He then blinked as his mind sensed a memory echo from the woman in his arms:

_No one will trust us . . . no one likes us . . . we were abandoned to our fates as soon as they put those damned collars on us and told us to go kill each other . . .!_

_Mitsuko . . .?_ the would-be pop music guitarist wondered as his eyes turned to gaze on the former teenage prostitute, who was now holding Megumi close to her as the two wept their relief at being reunited. Nearby, Hirono was doing the same thing to Kaori, as was Satomi with Yūko. _Damn!_ he then breathed out as looks of relief appeared on Mitsuko's, Hirono's and Satomi's faces, no doubt on their detecting what their lovers wanted them to know. _All those years being shown she was nothing more than a fuck-toy for men to use . . . the only man she ever DID trust was nowhere in sight . . .!_

"_**BOSS!**_"

Shūya jolted, and then he gaped as a screaming Kanai Izumi came out of nowhere to overwhelm a quite surprised Kazuo with her imitation of an Amazon glomp from the manga series _Ranma 1/2_. And while the former boy gang leader still seemed unsure as to how to react to such a display of emotion - especially from the first person he had killed during _The Program_ - he didn't do anything more than to allow Izumi to hold him close as she began to cry, delighted and relieved that Kazuo was whole and hearty again.

"Well, I must confess, I've never seen such happy people in BOTH my lives!"

Everyone turned, and then the people who had been on _Freedom_ before the shuttle from _Haida_ arrived gaped on seeing the older girl in the jeans, T-shirt and jean jacket that had just stepped off the Space Dhow, accompanied by a tanned woman in Canadian Navy combat dress, possessing chestnut-brown eyes and long green hair done in a simple ponytail that was draped over one shoulder. Thanks very much to Mizuho and her vivid descriptions of the "great emperor of the noble tōshi of the Three Kingdoms of old" that also was, in effect, the most powerful woman on her Earth, people knew who she was. "Hiromi-sempai . . . " Noriko whispered as she pulled herself away from Shūya, then bowed to her.

Hiromi returned her bow with a proper fist-in-open palm salute from old China, she bowing her head in salute. "Noriko-san. To behold someone of such incomparable beauty, both in body and in soul, is indeed a great honour."

Noriko's cheeks turned as red as cherries on hearing that. "S-sempai . . .!"

"Onē-sama! You're making the poor girl blush! Stop that!"

Hiromi smiled as she gazed at her pilot, Hagiwara Urara, one of _Haida_'s plank-owners who had volunteered to be a boatswain on joining the Canadian Forces; she was specifically sub-trained as a small support craft pilot, thus allowing her to serve as a coxswain for a Space Dhow. "I am speaking the truth, Urara-chan," the reborn emperor said before she gave a still-blushing Noriko a look. "Indeed, one must compliment Yukie-san for her impeccable choice of bond-mate." She was then quick to gaze on a taller woman with long black hair done up in two side-by-side French braids on saying that, which made Utsumi Yukie blush just as badly as her lover was now.

Urara hummed. "Well, given that Yukie-san does have a deep crush on Shūya-san, it would make things much more stable for all three of them!"

"_**HEY!**_" Shūya, Noriko and Yukie yelped at once.

"Oh, man!" Mimura Shinji breathed out. "How the hell do you do it, Shū? You got _**all**_ the girls chasing after you! Can't you share for once?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, Mim!" Matsui Chisato said as she came up to lean against him. "We'll make VERY sure you won't be alone at nights!"

He gave her a hopeful look. "Honest?"

"But of course!"

Laughter filled the hangar bay at that. "Actually, I believe I have a good explanation as to how Shūya is able to attract the attention of so many of our female peers, Shinji," Kazuo then stated. Gazing on him, the others from Shiroiwa Junior High were quick to see him with an arm around a contently smiling Izumi's shoulder. "He is a fundamentally honest man, always believing the best of his fellow man. Much that I realise referring to what we recently endured is painful for some, he demonstrated that constantly and consistently on Oki-shima. Even Shō finds him remarkably attractive."

Shūya was now as red as Noriko and Yukie. "Well, if Shō-kun judges Shūya-kun like that, it HAS to be true!" Nakagawa Yūka - there was no close relation between her and Noriko, Hiromi believed; such had not been properly confirmed in the manga - said as a thoughtful look appeared on her face before she gazed on the _ashi'cha_ of _The Program_ survivors. "Yukie-chan, Noriko-chan, you share?"

"_**NO!**_" both of them snapped.

More laughter as Shūya moved to draw them closer to him, which made both Noriko and Yukie smile in delight. "Well, here we are, all merry!" Hiromi stated as she waved her hands to indicate them all. "Before we get on to the filthy business of dealing permanently with the monsters who forced you all into _The Program_, allow me to add to your happiness." As people gazed curiously on her, she added, "As you all know, Mizuho-san - who is now with the Staff of Gihan on board _Haida_ to ensure it properly recharges from the considerable amount of energy it had expended in bringing you here and accidentally sending us on _Haida_ to a whole different dimension by accident - has told you on occasion that you will be allowed to remain in my dimension! I can assure you all _**that is what will happen**_!" she loudly stated. "You need not fear ever having to make a life for yourselves in the dimension we are currently within!"

"Sempai, that's not possible."

Eyes locked on Satomi. "What is your proof, Satomi-san?" Hiromi asked.

"We were BORN here, Sempai! Our spirits ORIGINATED here!" the bespectacled girl stated. "Logic dictates that we should be living our lives here!"

"But what of your body? Your CURRENT body?"

Silence.

"Does that matter?" Hirono demanded.

"It does indeed, Hirono-san," Hiromi stated. "If we are to take the most detailed elements of Sagussan creation myth into account - and we must consider that as we all are Avalonians even if spiritually, we are Terrans - our souls are born of the _Te'a_ Itself. That is the one universal constant, unconstrained by things such as time or space. Therefore, regardless of specific physical dimension or alternate timeline we may actually be born in, it is possible - and long ago, it was PROVEN - that any soul born in another dimension can transfer to a new dimension to take up residence AS LONG AS a body CREATED in the new dimension is provided so that _tre'cha_ can occur." She walked over to place a hand on the punkish girl's shoulder. "The body I'm touching right now, Hirono-san, was created in the bioroid factory in MY dimension. In one solar year's time, you WILL be forced back into my dimension; the forces that control such things will grant no exceptions." She then pulled back before waving at Kaori. "Since Shō-san was so kind to advise me of the recent anti-homosexual legislation passed by the Republic government that so panicked his father, that should be of great relief to both you and Kaori-san here. Even if you're not bonded as I can sense Satomi-san and Yūko-san - to say anything of Noriko-san and Yukie-san - are, your feelings for each other are open books to me. At least in _my_ Japan, they can be expressed. And in other countries in my dimension, you can even get MARRIED!"

Hirono's jaw dropped. "Married . . .?" she squeaked out.

"Hai!" Hiromi winked at her. "And I can certainly imagine you in a tuxedo!"

"That, I can't WAIT to see!" Shinji heckled.

Everyone whooped and cheered on hearing that as Hirono blushed, though she didn't react save for blushing even more when Kaori embraced her. "Who will adopt us then?" a voice then snapped out, causing people to turn and gaze on Tanizawa Haruka. "I mean, there are over - I mean, there WILL BE over - a hundred thousand of us! We can't live in Japan; it'll overcrowd the country!" Yukie's green-eyed, raven-haired best friend looked down. "Unless we move to places like Canada or America . . . "

"Be assured, Haruka-san, there will more than enough room in Japan for all of you," Hiromi assured her, and then she perked as something came to her. "Kazuo-san, what's the population of the Home Islands in this universe? Do you know that?"

"Two hundred-and-sixteen million," Kazuo automatically answered. "But that amount would include the population of the close neighbouring islands and island chains outside Formosa, which is seen as a colony as Korea was before 1945. I am unaware of the exact numbers for just Honshū, Hokkaidō, Shikoku and Kyūshū by themselves."

A sigh. "I see. My Japan only has a hundred-and-twenty million within it." The reborn emperor was quick to sense the surprised looks from those around her on her saying that. "Your Japan suffers from overcrowding. No doubt started by a 'baby boom' - as the Americans called it - after the end of the Greater East Asia War."

"A lot of folks believe _The Program_ was started in part to act as a way of keeping the population levels down, Sempai," Shinji advised.

"So what do you have in mind?" Hirono wondered. "I'm for just plain bombing the fuck outta the assholes until they raise the white flag and surrender . . .!"

"Or they commit seppuku," Mitsuko dryly added.

"But will that actually do what you want?"

Both gazed on Hiromi. "What do you mean?" Hirono asked.

The reborn emperor sighed. "Save for Kazuo-san and Satomi-san, who here believe themselves experts in the events of the Greater East Asia War and what happened in Europe at that time?" she then asked the crowd around them. As hands went up, she then pointed out to one girl, one not in a Shiroiwa seifuku. "You, Minami-san!"

The girl - Hinase Minami, her nametag said - lowered her hand. She was dressed in the same uniform as Inoue Keiko (who was reacquainting herself with Kawada Shōgo near the open hatchway of the Space Dhow, Hiromi was amused to note), making her a former student of Kōbe 2nd District Junior High School. "Hai, Sempai?" she asked.

"Minami-san, what did the Germans do when they moved to launch Operation: Sea Lion in 1940 after the British were forced to evacuate the Continent at Dunkerque?"

"The Luftwaffe launched a massive campaign to gain air superiority over Britain to ensure that the invasion fleet wouldn't be stopped by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy before it could land ashore and being the invasion," Minami answered.

"How was that campaign conducted?"

"Daylight and night bombing of Britain. First targeted on military airfields to deny the Royal Air Force any chance of getting airborne to stop them. Later, they went to civilian targets . . . or 'terror bombing' as the Germans later called it. That resulted in the 'Blitz' on London and elsewhere. It lasted eight months before they finally stopped that in the lead-up to Operation: Barbarossa in June of 1941." Noting people looking curiously at her, she added, "The invasion of Russia."

Those people nodded in understanding. "Did it work?" Hiromi asked.

Minami blinked, and then she shook her head. "No."

"So what did the British - and the Americans after they got into the fray in 1941 - do since they didn't possess any land on the Continent at the time?"

"Terror bombing - or 'strategic bombing' as they called it - on German cities and infrastructure to try to break up the logistics chain for their armies."

"Did _that_ work?"

Minami shook her head. "No."

"So do you believe that a mass attack from _Freedom_ on the government facilities and military installations of the Greater East Asia Republic will work?"

Silence fell as Minami considered that, and then she shook her head. "No."

"Why not?" Hirono demanded.

A sigh. "The reason terror bombing never worked is that it went after the wrong people, Hirono-san," Shōgo's and Keiko's old classmate explained. "It just destroys cities and makes a mess of things. Maybe sometimes, it'll hit a vital target and slow things down, but it won't _stop_ them. Even worse, it makes the people who are the actual target of those raids more loyal to the government trying to protect them. The British did that. The Germans did it, too. And if we hadn't knocked out the Americans at Pearl Harbour, the Coral Sea and Midway to keep them as far away from the Home Islands long enough so that the coming of atomic bombs could save us, we would have probably reacted the same way when they started developing the long-range bombers like the B-29 Superfortress and the B-36 Peacemaker." She then considered it before adding, "In a way, we actually DID react that way when the Nazis destroyed Tōkyō and Kyōto with their atomic V-2s and murdered the Shōwa Emperor and his family."

"That also was said to have led to _The Program_," Shinji added. As people gazed on him, the basketball player took a deep breath. "Oji-san told me that."

Hiromi nodded. "What I believe we should do - what I believe all of _**you**_ should do! - is fully accept your Avalonian sides . . . and attack the _**souls**_ of those who condemned you all to die!" she said. "I can feel it in all of you. You feel betrayed and abandoned by those you implicitly trusted to see to your welfare. Your parents, legal guardians and other adults in positions of responsibility! _**And you have every right to feel that way, my friends!**_" As people stared wide-eyed at the reborn emperor, she took a deep breath. "Your society decided long ago - yes, even for those of you who were forced to participate in the first 'episodes' of _The Program_ back in the 1940s and the 1950s - that you wouldn't be the guarantors of the future of your society. No, you would just be throw-away TOOLS that had to be tested to make sure you were strong enough to serve a government you NEVER chose as your own . . . and in ALL your cases, you never could rise up to rebel against if you ever got the opportunity! You were mere PAWNS that were forced, over a three-day period, to become one of two things . . .

"You either would be DEAD at the end of that period . . .

" . . . or a MURDERER many times over!"

Everyone stared at her - many of the young girls there openly crying on hearing this older outsider, this woman whom they had been strangely afraid of, coming out and SAYING what they had felt deep in their hearts and souls for so long - as Hiromi held up a finger in emphasis. "I propose this, my friends," she stated. "Think of the emotions you felt when you were cast out of those 'homeroom' classes and ordered to kill or die! Think of the fear! The anger! The betrayal! The shattered dreams! ALL those things that rushed through your minds in that time before Mizuho-san and the Staff came and shielded your souls from the final embrace of the _Te'a_ . . . or you survived long enough after it was all over with to be taken to the factory later, when no one was looking!

"_**WE ARE AVALONIANS!**_"

As total silence fell over the scene, Hiromi smirked. "Fear in OUR hands - and in our HEARTS and SOULS - is a WEAPON that can be USED! So let's USE it!"

Silence fell as people took that in, and then Satomi blinked as she finally realised where Hiromi was actually going with this. "The Staff . . .?"

"Aye, Lady Satomi!" the reborn emperor said. "In the morrow - and aye, I DO know there is the chance that more of your countrymen will be forced into _The Program_ by that time - the noble Staff that was allowed and encouraged to turn away from its mad creator's desires and its former masters' insane dreams by the truly devoted Lady Mizuho _**will be at full power!**_" A pause, and then she smirked, "They can run, they can hide . . . "

"But they can't protect their SOULS!"

Eyes locked on Mitsuko, whose blue eyes were ablaze with anticipation at what would soon come. "Aye, Lady Mitsuko!" Hiromi snarled. "They cannot shield their souls from your righteous fury . . . and in the morrow, thanks to each and every one of YOU . . .!" - she swept her outstretched finger to point at all those around her - " . . . they will know what they have forced you all through! And they will never be allowed to FORGET it . . . " A shrug. "In the last few minutes before they go permanently _insane_!"

"Oh, this is just going to be freakin' AWESOME!"

Eyes locked on Shinji, whose eyes were flashing now with deep passion. "Why do you say that, Master Shinji?" Hiromi demanded as she gazed knowingly at him.

The basketball player laughed. "My biggest dream - even before _The Program_ - was to blow up a school!" As many of the people around him laughed and whooped, he then shrugged. "We're gonna do one better in this one, Sempai! We're gonna blow up the BRAINS of every stupid idiot in the country that forced us INTO school! After all, if we weren't forced into school, we would've never been forced into _The Program_!"

Roaring laughter filled the hangar bay at that. "Hey, that's something I can dig!" Hirono then whooped before she pulled Kaori closer to her.

Applause then came from everyone else there. "Alright, everyone!" Noriko then called out, holding up her hand to get everyone's attention. "Settle down, please!" As people around them quieted down, she lowered her hand. "We're almost there! Everything we've been working for these last few months is almost done!" To Satomi. "Satomi-san, go back to the bridge and check up on the status of the DNA scan for all the boys! Make sure NOTHING has been missed and it matches up PERFECTLY with what the Staff and all the co-ed classes told us about who we're still missing in our group!"

Satomi nodded. "Hai!"

"I'll help!" Shinji offered.

"Dōmo!"

They quickly sprinted off for the bridge, Satomi grabbing Shinji's hand to guide him there. "Mitsuko-san, Hirono-san, Takako-san, make sure we have a full weapons crew watch at the ready!" Noriko then instructed the others of the "planning committee." "If we've been spotted by satellites, the chances are there that people in Tōkyō may know we're here! I wouldn't put it past them to lob a missile or two at us once they know we're all alive!"

"You got it, Boss Lady!" Hirono said with a nod.

"Now, Shōgo-kun . . . WHOOPS!"

People turned to look . . .

. . . and then Hiromi leaned over to squeeze a blushing Noriko's shoulder. "I suggest that we don't bother Master Shōgo and the Lady Keiko at this time, my friend," the reborn emperor then whispered as people then quickly turned away from watching the star couple of Kōbe 2nd District Junior High madly kissing away. "Not to mention the others . . . "

She indicated the other three couples from Shiroiwa Junior High School Class 3-B that had reunited this day . . . and were now exploring each other's lips as passionately as they could: Yamamoto Kazuhiko and Ogawa Sakura, Sugimura Hiroki and Kotohiki Kayoko, and Kuramoto Yōji and Yanagi Yoshimi. "Um . . . g-good point, Sempai," Noriko stuttered, and then she gazed on Hiromi. "Um, you want to come to my cabin? We can offer some food, at least! Then we'll show you around!"

Hiromi smiled. "It **_will_** have the 'Yūka Seal of Approval,' of course?"

"You're damn right it will!" Yūka snapped.

Laughter echoed from all around them . . .

* * *

Washington, the White House, an hour later . . .

"Did these just came in?"

The colonel in charge of the White House Communications Agency nodded. "Yes, Mister President. We spotted them almost right after we did the first close photo pass of the Visitor's bridge. Fort Meade reports it'll have new passes of the Visitor coming here within the next fifteen to twenty minutes." He shook his head. "Damn! People have been callin' for a new ship to be named _Arizona_ . . . "

"And now there's a _spaceship_ with that name floating over the planet," the President finished for the Marine officer as he gazed on the bright and clear shots that had been taken a half-hour ago by one of the National Reconnaissance Office's KH-11 satellites. "AND painted U.S. Navy haze grey, with the Stars and Stripes on her hull as well." He then pointed to the bow of the starship in the picture. "The number '72' that's there, Colonel. A hull classification symbol number?"

A nod. "Yes, sir. Even more so, that number would fall right into the sequence of battleships that were both built and planned for service in the Navy."

"What do you mean?" the Secretary of Defence asked.

"The last battleship ever constructed and commissioned to serve in the Navy was U.S.S. _Wisconsin_, hull classification number BB-64, Mister Secretary," the Chief of Naval Operations, who had been called to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when this latest discovery was made by the NRO, explained. "However, there were two more Iowa-class ships that were planned and started, but never completed: U.S.S. _Illinois_ and U.S.S. _Kentucky_, which would have been BB-65 and BB-66 respectively. Also, there were five more battleships of the Montana-class that were planned, but never built: U.S.S. _Montana_, U.S.S. _Ohio_, U.S.S. _Maine_, U.S.S. _New Hampshire_ and U.S.S. _Louisiana_."

"Which would have been given the hull classification numbers BB-67 to BB-71 respectively," the American chief executive then stated, nodding in understanding.

"Yes, sir," the CNO answered. "In effect, this U.S.S. _Arizona_ falls directly into the line of battleships that have served the United States, sir. And look here," he then added as he pointed to a close-up picture of _Arizona_'s upper superstructure.

The others looked. "What is that?" the Vice-President asked, pointing.

The CNO grinned. "The Presidential Unit Citation, Mister Vice-President."

Silence.

"How is this possible?" the President then asked.

The senior serving officer of the United States Navy took a deep breath. "Sir, there's only one clear possibility," he stated. "And it does sound a little crazy - straight out of _Star Trek_, actually - but given what we've seen so far since this started, it does fit the facts of what we've detected." As the President nodded his permission to continue, the CNO said, "They're from another dimension, sir. Possibly also somewhere in the future. Where we - our counterparts, that is - developed the technology to get into space, possibly break the light-speed barrier and go to other solar systems. Again, it sounds crazy . . . "

"But it does fit the facts," the Secretary of Defence noted.

"Yes, Mister Secretary."

The people in the Oval Office nodded. "What of the other two ships?" the President asked. "One has the Canadian flag on her. Who might she be?"

"We believe her to have been named H.M.C.S. _Haida_, sir," the CNO stated. "The cameras got a good shot of the ship's crest under what we believe is the main bridge of these ships. The crest is that of _Haida_. Furthermore, she has the hull classification number '215' on her hull. That is an EXACT match for the H.M.C.S. _Haida_ that once served in the Canadian Navy. She was a Tribal-class destroyer built in Britain for use by the Canadians in 1943. She's the only one of the class left around; she was decommissioned in 1963 and she's now a memorial anchored in an enclosed bay in Toronto, administered by the Ontario provincial government. No doubt, when this _Haida_ was commissioned, they decided to recycle the hull classification number; the Canadian Navy doesn't normally do that."

"And the third ship?" the Vice-President asked.

A sigh. "She's Japanese, sir. Specifically, the _Yamato_."

More silence.

"How can you tell?" the President asked.

"Well, her name is written in hiragana on the sides of her hull just forward of the large engine exhausts aft," the CNO explained as he pointed to the picture. "Strangely, the name is written in a left-to-right reading format, the same way English words are written. Now, that's NOT the way the Japan of _our_ dimension does things; on their ships, they write names right-to-left. Atop that, they write the names in gold. This ship has them in white." He pointed to the flag on the side of _Yamato_'s hull. "And that is NOT the flag of the Greater East Asia Republic, Mister President. That is, as it was called back then, the _Hinomaru_, which translates 'circle of the sun' in English. It's the old Japanese national flag. The Republic, as you know, adopted a variation of the Imperial Japanese Navy war ensign as their national flag in 1945, with the sun disk centred on the flag instead of being set off close to the hoist. And the civil commerce ensign for the Republic - the civil sea flag - is coloured the reverse of the old _Hinomaru_: a white sun in a red field."

"All you have to do is add a swastika," the Vice-President ruefully noted.

The others in the room dryly chuckled at that. Given that it had been rogue Nazis in U-boats that had fired nuclear-tipped V-2s at Tōkyō and Kyōto in 1945 - thus killing the then-ruling Emperor and his whole family and plunging the island nation down the path to eventually transform itself into the "Greater East Asia Republic" of today by the end of the last year of World War Two - it often struck people elsewhere as incredibly odd that a banner that was so similar to the Third Reich's _Hakenkreuzflagge_ was so popular in that nation. In fact, whenever people worldwide wished to protest against the Republic's government - most often because of sickening things like _The Program_ - it was seen as traditional to spray-paint a swastika over the white sun of the _Kyōwaki_. And this was done even in GERMANY, where the open display of a swastika in the Nazi style was outlawed!

"That proves it," the President then said.

"Sir?" the Secretary of Defence asked.

"Admiral Clark's theory as to the origin of these ships," the chief executive stated as he gazed on the just-appointed officer; the current CNO had assumed his post only six days ago. "They're obviously from another dimension or time-line. One where our counterparts did develop some sort of space capability that is shared between the nations YET still maintain individual armed forces. AND . . . " - he pointed to the images of _Yamato_ - " . . . where Japan may have turned out much better than here."

"Could the Visitor be that way, too, sir?" the colonel in command of the White House's military communications unit then wondered.

People gazed at him, and then they nodded. "That's a possibility," the Vice-President then said. "It could explain how we saw Noriko Nakagawa on that ship when we know she's in New York with her boyfriend. The Noriko on that ship . . . "

"Could be the dimensional counterpart to OUR Noriko Nakagawa," the CNO finished for the native of Tennessee that would - if such was necessary between now and the next Inauguration Day coming up in January - step in if the President was either killed or critically incapacitated. "It does make some sense."

"Should we try to contact them?" the Secretary of Defence asked.

Before the President could answer, a knock was heard at the door that led into the corridor that connected the Oval Office to the other major offices of the West Wing of the White House. The Secret Service agent standing post there opened the door, and then stepped back to allow the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations to walk inside, he himself escorted by another USSS special agent. "Mister President," the chief of America's primary federal law enforcement agency called out.

"What news, Louis?" the President asked.

A tired sigh escaped the New Jersey native. "I just got off the phone with the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York field office, sir," he said before flatly announcing, "Both Shūya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa were found dead in their bedrooms at the apartment we set up for them in Manhattan about an hour ago." As stunned looks crossed the faces of the other people in the Oval Office, he added, "They've been dead for about a day according to the initial coroner's report; due to the psychological trauma they went through, we decided to not be so close in watching over them to give them a chance to feel at home and unwind from their escape." He took another deep breath before adding, "When they found out what happened to them after receiving your instructions to look in on Miss Nakagawa, the New York field office initiated a full security clamp-down on it to make sure it didn't leak to the press. That's why we just learned this now. This was done just in case . . . "

"This was some hit from the Republic to avenge what happened on Oki-shima," the Secretary of Defence finished for the just-arrived FBI director.

A nod. "Yes, Mister Secretary."

"Cause of death, Louis?" the President demanded.

A sigh. "Right now, we don't know, Mister President. The coroner we got working on this is running the full gamut of tests on the corpses. But - strange as this will sound to you, sir - he believes that somehow, someway . . . their hearts just stopped beating!" The Director shrugged. "They were both hurt during their run in _The Program_, Mister President. The Navy doctor that examined them when they arrived in Hawai'i reported both were on their way to a full recovery. How . . . "

"John, get Director Tenet in here now!" the President stated.

The Secret Service agent at the main door perked, and then nodded. "Yes, Mister President. Right away." And with that, he stepped out of his office as the other agent who had escorted the Director into the Oval Office took his place.

"Sir, I recommend we contact _Arizona_ immediately."

Eyes locked on the Chief of Naval Operations. "Can't wait to go aboard that ship and see it for yourself, Vern?" the Secretary of Defence wryly asked.

A chuckle. "Personally, I'd love to go aboard that ship and look around. But after what General Shelton told me about what was found on the Visitor, sir . . . "

"Whoever is on _Arizona_ might have the answer," the Vice-President stated.

A nod. "Yes, sir."

"Where is _Arizona_ right now in relationship to Earth?" the President asked.

"Sir, she's right in orbit sixty miles off the Visitor's starboard side. Or what Fort Meade believes is the Visitor's starboard side given where what we think are her main drive engines are located," the colonel in charge of the White House Communications Agency answered. "She's to port and aft of _Haida_, with _Yamato_ starboard and aft of _Haida_. Their bows are pointed in the same direction as the Visitor's bow; facing the same direction as planetary rotation."

"_Haida_'s the flagship, then," the CNO noted.

"I'd rather talk to someone from America right now. I'm sure Prime Minister Chrétien is already getting briefed about this by his people both in Ottawa and at NORAD in Colorado Springs," the President stated. "Admiral Clark, pass the message to CINCPAC as they're the closest command authority to where she is and Japan is in their area of responsibility. Have them contact _Arizona_ as quickly as possible. AND, if possible, ask them if they can find some way to make sure that anyone in Japan does NOT overhear what I want to talk to them about."

The senior officer of the United States Navy considered that for a moment, and then he nodded. "Mister President, I think I know of a way to do just that."

"As quick as you can, Admiral."

"Aye-aye, sir!"

* * *

_Arizona_, the combat information centre, thirty minutes later . . .

"How's the watch, Senior Chief?"

Senior Chief Intelligence Specialist (Surface Warfare/Submarine Warfare) Sherman Wiley perked, and then he smiled as he was handed a cup of coffee by the American starship's senior enlisted rating. "So far, it's quiet, Master Chief," he said as he sat back in his chair, sipping the brew - Starbucks provided the coffee for _Arizona_ free of charge, just like Tim Hortons did for _Haida_ - as he gazed on his master information control board in the port side of the CIC right next to the operations officer's station. While he and CMDCM (AW/SW) Keith Hayward had both served together in many postings over the years and were close friends, they always maintained proper decorum when on duty, saving the use of their given names for the goat locker or whenever they were alone in each other's office. "Haven't heard a peep out of Japan yet about another 'episode' of that stupid cluster-fuck Miss Sakaki went through . . . "

"Yet," _Arizona_'s command master chief growled as he sipped his coffee.

"Yeah, yet!" Wiley stated before lowering his voice. "There're some angry SEALs and Marines down below decks that want to bust some skulls, Keith," he hissed.

"The GSDF guys over in _Yamato_ are feeling the same way, Sherm," Hayward affirmed, lowering his voice in turn. "Ditto with the CeeGees on _Haida_." He smirked. "Wouldn't that be awesome to watch?" he wondered, a snicker escaping him.

"What?"

"Casey Ryback, Marc Duchesne and Miss Moroboshi handling the rescue?"

Wiley winced. "Oooh! That would be MEAN to those there dumb animals!" he hissed out, which made Hayward nearly fall over laughing. Wiley then he paused to consider it before smirking. "Actually, it'd be weird to watch that," he commented.

"What do you mean?" Hayward asked.

"Well, Miss Moroboshi doesn't like getting directly involved if there're others who can do the job," the senior intelligence specialist noted. "She'd probably just sit back and give pointers to Casey and Marc as they're going to town on 'em."

Hayward laughed out loud and then he caught himself. "Sorry about that, sir," he said to Commander Clarke Zarn, who currently had the watch.

"What's so funny, Master Chief?" the combat officer asked.

"We were discussing possible rescue operation options for whatever kids might get caught up in _The Program_ in the next few days, Commander," Hayward answered. "No doubt, if Miss Moroboshi led the operation, she'd just hang back and pass on pointers to Commander Ryback and Chief Warrant Officer Duchesne. That is, if the Director orders SEAL 72 and 1 CG to lead the charge."

"Hey! Don't leave us out of it!" Sergeant Major Henry Nicholas - who had just come into the room on his duty rounds as the members of the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit acted as internal security back-up to _Arizona_'s organic master-at-arms team - then said. "And _definitely_ don't leave out the guys in the Fourth Airborne, too!" The Japanese Fourth Airborne Infantry Battalion - which was administratively part of the Central Readiness Force's First Airborne Brigade and based out of Funabashi just east of Tōkyō - was the Ground Self-Defence Forces' primary contribution to _Yamato_'s combined forces team. Many of the battalion's current members were ex-Japanese Special Forces Group troopers, who had gladly switched back to being basic paratroopers just to get a chance to serve in space.

"We won't!" Hayward called back as laughter filled the room.

"Commander!"

Eyes snapped over. "What is it, Miss Litchenburg?" Zarn demanded.

OS3(AW) Jacqueline Litchenburg looked up from her station. "Sir, our ECM receivers are detecting laser beacons being directed at us from a KH-11 now passing us!"

"What?" Zarn barked out as he came over. "What's going on?"

"Having it recorded now, sir," the young third-class petty officer said as she tapped controls on her machine. She then blinked as the regularity of the pulses now hitting _Arizona_'s receivers came to her. "It's Morse Code . . . "

"Can you read it?"

"Aye, sir! Just a moment . . . "

People quieted down as they waited for the young lady from Queens to record what was being bounced at _Arizona_ now. After a moment, she then started to type out things on her keyboard to confirm what she had just overheard. "Transmission complete. It was a short message, Commander," she said as she stared at the message she had written out before she gazed at him. "It says 'CNO to _Arizona_. Contact NCA. Maintain security, don't let Tōkyō Rose listen in.'"

Silence.

"Oh, my God . . . " the combat officer breathed out.

"What is it, Commander?"

Everyone turned as Tom Kazanski walked up to them; he had just come into the CIC from his private cabin. "One of the Keyhole satellites just laser-flashed us, sir," Zarn stated as he gazed on the former F-14 squadron commander. "It was from the CNO. The CNO _here_, sir." As Kazanski blinked in surprise, the commander added, "We're to contact the President. The President _here_, sir! And they asked us to make sure the idiots in the Greater East Asia Republic don't listen in."

Kazanski blinked, and then he nodded. No doubt, the people on this Earth - as it was the year 2000 in this dimension - had woken up to what _else_ was in orbit over Japan. _At least the people in Washington_, he mused to himself before sighing. "Alright. Get Captain Mitchell up and tell him to get a pair of Starfires ready. Starboard tubes."

Zarn blinked, and then he grinned. "Yes, sir! You flying?"

"What do you think?" the man known as "Iceman" asked.

A laugh. "Aye-aye, sir! Bos'n Mate of the Watch, sound Flight Stations!"

"Flight Stations, aye-aye, sir!"

Immediately, a gonging noise echoed through _Arizona_ . . .

* * *

_Freedom_, five minutes later . . .

"He's doing WHAT?"

"Captain Kazanski and Captain Kerner are taking an F-96 out to fly down to Andrews Air Force Base to meet with President Clinton, Director," Brian Gamblin called in from _Haida_. "Captain Mitchell and Commander Wells are going with them."

Hearing that, Hiromi laughed out loud. "Ah, I knew helping Tom-san get over his arthritis would make him more daring!" she then stated. "Thank you for telling me that, Brian-san. I'll handle it from here. End call." She tapped the control on her communicator to cut the link with _Haida_, and then tapped a control to open a new link. "Moroboshi to Kazanski. Tom-san, are you there?" she called out.

"Iceman here," the captain of _Arizona_ called back, the humming turbine roar of a Starfire's pulse jets echoing in the background. "I take it Thunderbird Six just called in and told you what's going on right now."

"Indeed he did," the director of the Earth Defence Force answered. "I wish you, Slider, Maverick and Merlin a good flight down. But PLEASE . . . "

"Don't start World War Three while we're here," he finished.

A chuckle. "Indeed."

"Roger that, ma'am. Iceman clear."

"End call," Hiromi stated as she tapped her communicator before slipping it into her jean jacket pocket, and then she noted a whole chorus of stunned looks coming her way from everyone in the main bridge of the borrowed Niphentaxian battlewagon. "Is there something wrong?" she then calmly wondered before picking up the tea Yūka made for her, and then she sat back to sip it, grateful that the resident chef of her host's old homeroom class remembered to add red pepper powder to the _sencha_.

"Um . . . is that a really smart idea, Sempai?" Satomi asked.

"You mean letting Captain Kazanski go down to meet President Clinton?" the reborn emperor then asked. After the bespectacled junior high school senior nodded, Hiromi shrugged. "Unfortunately, you came in low enough to be spotted by the American KH-11 photo reconnaissance satellite system run by their National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly, which is a lovely city in the most noble Commonwealth of Virginia, located just south of Dulles International Airport west of the city of Washington itself. No doubt, by now, the members of the most honourable Federal Bureau of Investigations in New York have discovered Noriko-san's and Shūya-san's old bodies in their apartment in Manhattan. And if the KH-11 system is as sharp in taking photographs as I've been briefed on, the chances are quite good that the right honourable chief executive of the United States of America from the noble state of Arkansas now knows you are aboard this ship. People who are supposed to be all quite DEAD, in fact! The many discrepancies they will have discovered by now will be provoking all sorts of interesting questions on the banks of the grand old Potomac River, so it's best to prevent such questions from invoking fear and a possible war situation by simply telling them the truth."

"But what if the jokers in Tōkyō spot them leaving the _Arizona_?" Hirono asked.

Hiromi pulled out her communicator - which was actually modelled on a Research in Motion BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone, though it had functions the bright people based in the Ontario city of Waterloo could not even _begin_ to imagine it having; the device itself had been specially rebuilt from a normal Bold by Ki Tsukihana. "Current Tōkyō time is 12:05 in the afternoon, which means that - since it's mid-summer now here - the current Washington time will be 11:05 in the evening. It should be nice and dark out at Andrews, so people won't spot two space fighters fly in. The F-96 Starfire is a stealth platform and cannot be spotted by standard ground radar; we normally use radio transponders to allow surface airports to pick up one on their systems. And I'm sure that before he will launch to fly down there - from the _Arizona_'s starboard launch tubes, which now point AWAY from Earth (as well as any Republic spy satellite) - Tom-san will relay a message back through the KH-11 system to the NRO to advise the President he is coming for a late-night tea and chat."

"I can't believe it . . . "

Hiromi looked over. "You cannot believe WHAT, Shinji-san?"

Shinji was chuckling. "Tom Kazanski, right?"

"Hai."

"Call-sign 'Iceman,' right?"

"Hai."

"He looks a lot like Val Kilmer, right?"

The reborn emperor blinked as she considered that, and then nodded. "Now that you mention it, there is something of a close resemblance between them. Why do you ask?"

A laugh. "Because in _our_ universe, Sempai, he's a character from a movie called _Top Gun_!" the basketball player said. "It came out in 1986! It starred Tom Cruise as Pete Mitchell . . . "

"Call-sign 'Maverick,'" Shūya added as he snapped his fingers; he had seen that movie himself thanks to an illegal video CD he had borrowed from a friend.

"Whom you just mentioned as 'Captain Mitchell' . . . AND called him by call-sign, too!" Shinji finished.

"Well, what's the problem with that?"

Eyes locked on Megumi. "What do you mean?" Shinji wondered.

"We were just in the _Star Trek_ universe, Shinji-kun! Don't you remember?"

He jolted as all the others on the bridge save Kazuo began to laugh . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	19. Hands Across The Dimensions

Elsewhere on _Freedom_ . . .

"He's incredible!"

"Damn! How high's the score now?"

"He's already pushing it past 50,000!"

"Has he always been this way?"

"Ladies."

The group of girls - from many schools across all the decades _The Program_ had been active - paused on hearing that polite voice, and then they started to blush as Akamatsu Yoshio turned away from the simulator controls to gaze on them. "Much that I understand why you all sound so impressed, your cheering is getting distracting. Could you please keep it quiet?" he then asked. "I need to concentrate."

They all jolted on hearing that, and then many rapidly nodded their heads as he turned back to reset the simulation system for the battlewagon's main cannons, and then start again. Among that crowd that were now silently watching as he began to play with the controls as he worked on the simulation of defending the ship against a massed attack from multiple enemies were several of his classmates from Shiroiwa Junior High. Among them was a very happy Tendō Mayumi, who was the only one Yoshio had killed before he himself was struck down by Niida Kazushi. Kazushi was also there watching this, as was Oda Toshinori. "Man, I never thought that a guy who wouldn't hurt a fly could do shit like _that_!" Kazushi mused, keeping his voice down so as to not distract Yoshio.

"It's a video game, Kazushi-san," Toshinori advised the former soccer player. "Or actually, the Niphentaxian military version of one. To Yoshio-san, working this simulator is no different than any of the games you could purchase at a store."

"You could do this as well, you know."

The violinist jolted at the giant man's assertion. "Impossible!"

Yoshio smiled as he paused the simulation, and then looked back. "You really think you can't do it?" he then asked as he gave the shorter man a knowing smile.

A sigh. "I am a concert violinist, Yoshio-san. I don't indulge in video games; I never have." These days, Toshinori didn't express the profound contempt for his classmates that he once felt for them. The feelings that had produced the scathing insults against the "vulgar masses" he had expressed to himself from time to time . . . and which had also driven his actions during their class' participation in _The Program_, where he had been able to take down Shimizu Hirono, though he did not anticipate the icy ruthlessness of Kiriyama Kazuo when they had confronted each other later. "How could I possibly translate that to controlling this ship's weapons?"

"The precision."

Toshinori perked. "Excuse me?"

"The precision of a violinist," Yoshio emphasised. "When you play with your violin, you know what sort of pressure to put on which string - forgive me; I don't know the proper terms - to make the sound you want to produce. I think it's not so different from deciding which system to use to deal with whatever threat might be facing you." He pointed to the various controls before them; like Satomi, he had been quite grateful to the fact that the Niphentaxians had adopted Japanese as their "native" language over a year before, thus making it easy for the _Program_ victims to learn and understand how to make use of the giant vessel they now possessed. "Do you use the long-range guns? The carronades for short-range work? Is it a small attack ship situation - what we'd call 'anti-aircraft defence' - that needs the fast-firing close-range guns? Will guns do it alone? Do you need missile banks to back it up? Do you have to set up air defence to allow the ship's fighters to launch?" A shake of the head. "It's not so different than you deciding how a song sounds on your violin, not to mention finding a way to match the violin to the other orchestra instruments."

The smaller man blinked as he considered that, and then he jolted as Mayumi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Give it a try, Toshinori-kun," she urged. "What harm would it do?" She then gazed on Kazushi. "You, too, Kazushi-kun. You were on the soccer team. You made a whole bunch of long-range goals with the ball all the time. You could probably do a few drop shots with the missile banks if we have to go that far."

Both of them took a moment to consider that before they exchanged a look, and then Kazushi shrugged. "What the heck? You only live once!"

"In our case, we have lived _twice_, Kazushi," Toshinori noted.

"So let's live it up. After all, our parents ain't here to tell us otherwise."

The violinist blinked, and then he sighed. "That's true, isn't it?" He then nodded. "Very well, Yoshio. Show us how the strings of our violin work!"

Yoshio beckoned them over to sit down at the simulator sets to either side of the one he was using. Watching the other two men take their seats and listen as the gentle giant briefed them in on what _Freedom_ was fitted with, Mayumi could only smile, though she tried not to blush too much as the other girls around her gave her knowing looks for what she had done. "You claiming him, Mayumi-san?" a girl who had been forced into _The Program_ for the thirty-seventh episode in 1973, Nomiyama Haruka, whispered.

"Do you blame me, Haruka-san?" Mayumi whispered back.

The other girls giggled, though they kept their voices down so as to not distract Yoshio. "I don't blame you," one of the participants from an all-girls class that had been made to participate in the nineteenth episode of _The Program_ in 1987, Inoue Aki, quietly noted as her eyes danced over the gentle giant's quite muscular form; in his new body, Yoshio didn't possess the last remnants of child fat he had in his old body on Oki-shima (though he did not possess the layers of hunky muscles one Sugimura Hiroki had). "You sharing?"

"If the 'time of the month' hits me, I'll share with my bond-mate, whoever that may be," Mayumi asserted. "But no one else," she then added as she walked away.

"Meanie!" Haruka whimpered.

Mayumi stopped. "Do you blame me?"

"Hell, no!" Aki said with a grin . . .

* * *

The main gymnasium . . .

"You okay, Case?"

Casey Ryback breathed out as he coiled his body, and then flipped himself back onto his feet before nodding in reassurance at his team's command master chief petty officer, Lee Hinton. "Yeah, I'm okay, Cue Ball!" he assured his old shipmate from the _Missouri_, and then he gazes on Hiroki. "Who's been your martial arts teacher?"

"He was a kung fu _shīfu_ from the Chinese part of Takamatsu, Sensei," the young martial artist prodigy stated as he slowly relaxed himself. It had been quite a hard fight; Hiroki had never encountered an experienced aikidō-ka like the commander of SEAL Team 72 before. It had been close; Hiroki had barely won this round. "If I was forced to live in this dimension and we did something about the maniacs that unleashed _The Program_ on all of us, I would have gone back to continue to learn. Maybe even study with a relative of his that runs a Buddhist monastery on Shikoku." He then lightly smiled. "I've never really liked using force against anyone, Sensei."

"Good. No one should EVER like it," Ryback returned. "You've got some rough edges to still trim out, but you're getting there. Hang around Negako a bit and she'll teach you things even _I've_ never heard about. And I've been around the block a few times."

"Oh, that he has!" Hinton said with a chuckle. "That he has!"

Laughter from the others who had gathered in the gymnasium to watch the spar between the American SEAL officer and the young kung fu practitioner from Shikoku. Among a lot of girls - including Hiroki's girlfriend Kotohiki Kayoko - who had been on _Freedom_ when she had transitioned into this dimension, there were members of SEAL Team 72, the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards, the 4th Airborne Infantry Battalion and volunteers from _Haida_, _Arizona_ and _Yamato_. As soon as Noriko had given her permission, medical personnel from all three ships had poured onto _Freedom_ via materialiser to meet up with the over sixty thousand young women now aboard the battlewagon to begin ascertaining what sort of medical treatments they needed to undergo before they could finally get on with their renewed lives.

Fortunately - or so Ryback had learned from _Arizona_'s chief medical officer Jennifer Turner - there were no problems with malnutrition or anything of that nature. The bioroid factory and the _Freedom_ were equipped with heavy-duty food replicator systems that - save for a universal blandness that often appeared in the products they served - had the right nutrients, minerals and vitamins to keep the _Program_ survivors whole and healthy. Atop that, since the survivors were all third-grade middle school students - and had been raised in a society that did avidly promote physical health as a virtue; one of the few _good_ things the Greater East Asia Republic had done for its citizens - they had instituted daily aerobics classes of usually an hour's length to ensure no one got fat and lazy. And since all of the girls had been quick to awaken to their bodies' bisexual nature, not to mention the universal drive Avalonians as a whole possessed when it came to seeking bond-mates, there had been uncountable cases of passionate lovemaking between couples, threesomes and more - even several all-class orgies on occasion! - which was quite beneficial in its own respects, especially since it didn't come with the complication of teenage pregnancies due to the total dearth of men around to serve as fathers to young children.

Mentally and emotionally, it was a mixed story. While everyone on _Freedom_ seemed to have quite fully recovered from their individual ordeals in _The Program_, there was still the deep-lingering feelings everyone felt about what had happened that had eventually brought them aboard the Niphentaxian battlewagon and the Avalon bioroid factory over the previous ten months. The sense of total rejection they all naturally felt from the society they had been born in. The effective abandonment they had all felt to the dark grasp of _The Program_ by their parents and other trusted adult figures; Ryback remembered from the _Battle Royale_ manga how both Motobuchi Kyōichi and Oda Toshinori - the former the son of a government official, the latter the son of a quite wealthy family - had learned that their perceived "status" in society wouldn't spare them from being made to kill or be killed. The feeling that no one wanted anything to do with them anymore; that had spurred the belief - until it had been effectively dispelled by Moroboshi Hiromi when she had first come aboard - that they had no place to eventually go save the land of their birth. And how that had fuelled a deadly determination to make damn sure the Greater East Asia Republic would NEVER survive their return; hadn't Hiromi given them a more emotionally satisfactory solution with the use of the Staff of Gihan to force-feed the combined feelings of ALL the _Program_ victims into the souls of those who supported or worked for _The Program_, the chances would have been very high that the people on _Freedom_ would have gone with Shimizu Hirono's idea of just simply nuking vast areas of the country out of existence.

_Hopefully, Tom and Pete can convince the Americans here to not screw things up after it happens_, Ryback then mused to himself before he nodded thanks as one of his junior SEALs handed him a towel so he could wipe himself down. _Much that these kids want to get even with the bastards that condemned them to die, the whole of Japan doesn't deserve to suffer with them. Especially good folks like Mimura Shinji's aunt . . ._

* * *

East of Washington, that moment . . .

"Special Flight Seven-Two-Alpha, this is Andrews Tower. You are clear to land on Runway Zero-One-Lima. Winds are west-northwest at twenty knots. As soon as you're down, the ground car will guide you to where you have to go, over."

"Andrews Tower, this is Special Flight Seven-Two-Alpha with two, we acknowledge same. Coming down on Runway Zero-One-Lima," Tom Kazanski replied as he gently pushed the F-96's joystick down a bit to allow the stealthy space fighter - which resembled a twin-rudder, two-engine version of the Grumman X-29 experimental aircraft that had been test-flown by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency in the early 1980s, though it was painted solid black like the F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack bomber that had been retired by the Air Force two years ago in _Arizona_'s home universe - to make a picture-perfect landing at the south end of the long runway that was normally used by the big Boeing VC-25 known world-wide as "Air Force One."

A quick glance to his right showed that the F-96 being flown by Captain Peter "Maverick" Mitchell was right where he was supposed to be as they came down onto the ground. _He's still dangerous, but he's sure as hell come up in the world since we were both at Miramar learning all the tricks of the trade from Viper and Jester!_ the man still respectfully called "Mister Iceman" by all his peers mused to himself, mentally patting his shoulder again at getting his old TOPGUN rival the CAG spot on _Arizona_. Even if age had mellowed Mitchell out, he was still a ruthless warrior behind the stick of a fighter, as he had proven in both Gulf Wars and elsewhere on both the F-14 Tomcat and later on the various models of the F/A-18 Hornet. And like Kazanski - once _Arizona_'s commanding officer had undergone regeneration treatment to remove the arthritis from his limbs that had grounded him four years before - Mitchell had taken to the F-96 Starfire (the United States military hadn't put the "S" code on the fighter's model type to identify her as a space-capable aircraft since that letter code could confuse the Starfire with anti-submarine aircraft such as the S-3 Viking) like a long lost lover.

"Hey, Tom! Look at your ten o'clock," Mitchell called over the secure communications link between the two fighters as they began to finish their roll-out.

Kazanski looked over, and then he chuckled. "Damn! Marine One!"

"We're getting the goddamned VIP treatment here, Ice!" Ron Kerner said from the back seat of Kazanski's F-96. "You don't suppose the President is there, do you?"

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"You ever vote for him, Captain?" Mitchell's companion for this mission, Commander Sam "Merlin" Wells - now assigned as Deputy Commander Air Group to the 72nd Carrier Air Wing's headquarters staff - then asked.

"I don't talk about politics, Merlin! You know that!" Kazanski snapped as he calmly pulled the throttle for the retrothrusters back to break the Starfire. A quick glance to the plane to his right showed that Mitchell was doing the same thing. "Ah, our guide!" he then said as a tow truck came onto the runway ahead of them, its emergency flashing light rotating around. "Looks like the Navy's running this show."

"Thank God for that!" Kerner muttered. "You imagine what could've happened if the jokers in Langley were in charge of this mess?"

Kazanski winced. "Don't talk about that stuff, Ron!"

"Sorry, Ice."

Soon enough, both Starfires had wheeled off the runway and were taxiing over to an open hangar that was now under guard by a double-company's worth of Marines in combat uniforms, loaded M-4 carbines in their hands and at the ready. _Yeah, the Navy's running this show, alright_, the captain of _Arizona_ thought to himself as a pair of aviation boatswain mates - both chief petty officers by the looks of them - in their blue Navy dungarees came out with lighted marshalling wands to guide them inside to their parking spaces. _No civvies in sight . . . and there's Admiral Clark waiting for us_, he then thought on spotting the current Chief of Naval Operations at the inner end of the hangar as he moved to break the Starfire and then shut her systems down. _Nice and tight! And everyone all said Bill Clinton was a moron when it came to military stuff! At least the man trusted the generals and admirals to do their jobs . . . even if he couldn't keep it in his pants!_ Trying not to smirk at his dark humour, he applied the brakes on his F-96's solid rubber tires to stop his ship, and then he started the shut-down sequence to power down the fighter. "You got the case with you, Ron?"

"In the boot, just like you wanted," Kerner said as he moved to help with the shut-down sequence. It had been a wonderful time for the two men once Kazanski was declared flight-capable once again two months ago; qualifying on the F-96 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma - the home base of CVW-72 when _Arizona_ wasn't out in deep space - had been like their initial qualification on the venerable old F-14A that eventually had taken them both through years of service and many deployments. Save for the fact that the Starfire's cockpit systems weren't as ultra-complex as the Tomcat's; say what one might about Ki Tsukihana and his willingness to make beautiful war toys, he also made sure they were quite user-friendly. "Lock her down when we get out, Ice?"

"I'll do it."

"Roger that."

Soon enough, the high turbine whine of the retrothrusters had died away and the canopies had unlocked and depressurised to open up and allow the four officers to disembark. The ground crew that had been mustered up for tonight's secret meeting were already there with accommodation ladders, though Kazanski was quick to see the wide-eyed looks on the sailors' faces. Which was understandable; stealth in the year 2000 normally meant the geometrically arrow-shaped F-117 Nighthawk or the flying wing-shaped B-2 Spirit as the F-22 Raptor was still five years away from being fully introduced into front-line United States Air Force service. Even more so, the F-96 Starfire LOOKED like a normal plane even if her wings were swept forward and not aft; the only real clue to her stealth capabilities was the highly-advanced radar-absorbing skin the black jets had been coated with, not to mention the total absence of wing and fuselage hard-points since all of them - when they were needed - could be simply extended from storage bays that were flush with the outer surfaces, thus making the deadly space fighter a true acrobat in atmosphere.

"Captain Kazanski?"

Kazanski turned, and then straightened himself to attention as he saluted the admiral now approaching. "Admiral Clark, sir," he said with a polite nod, and then he turned as Kerner came up to join them. "Sir, my executive officer, Captain Ronald Kerner, call-sign 'Slider,'" he then introduced him. "He'll handle the basic brief with the President as he's got what we call the 'FCC' with him now."

"'FCC?'" the CNO asked, noting the thick briefcase Kerner was holding.

"'First Contact Case,' Admiral," Kerner said, and then he smiled as their wingmen for this evening's trip to Washington came over. "Admiral Clark, may we present the Commander Air Group of Carrier Air Wing 72, Captain Peter Mitchell, call-sign 'Maverick.' His DCAG, Commander Samuel Wells, call-sign 'Merlin.'"

Salutes and handshakes were exchanged, and then Kazanski and Mitchell pulled out what looked like car remotes from their G-suits to click a control. Instantly, the canopies of both Starfires closed and locked into place. "Remote controls?" the CNO asked as both pilots put them away. "Never seen that before on Navy planes."

"Sir, we can trust you. Can we trust the folks in Langley? Much less the civvies working in Groom Lake?" Kazanski then asked, a wry smile on his face.

The admiral laughed. "Good point, Captain. Good point. Sergeant Major!"

"Sir!" the booming voice of a very nasty-looking Marine sergeant major that reminded the four men from _Arizona_ a lot of Henry Nicholas echoed from nearby.

"Make sure NO ONE that is NOT authorised to come into this hangar comes into this hangar!" the CNO ordered. "You have the President's personal authority to use ALL force necessary to keep this place as tight as a drum. Understood, Marine?"

"Aye-aye, sir!" the Marine said as he saluted the Navy's senior admiral.

With that, the CNO then beckoned the four naval aviators from another dimension towards a side door so they could step outside and board the awaiting VH-3D Sea King in the black-and-white livery of Marine One. Watching them go, Chief Aviation Boatswain Mate Michael Stockwell - he was nominally assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 209 that was based at the Naval Air Facility Washington side of Andrews - blinked before he turned to gaze appreciatively at the F-96 that had just come into the hangar. "Damn nice birds," he mused aloud as he took in the beautiful craft. "Groom Lake?"

The Marine in charge of the detail guarding this hangar looked, and then he nodded. "Yeah, I guess so," Sergeant Major Duke Robbins - he and his detail had been brought down from Camp David at the direct orders of the President - mused. "Crazy what those guys came up with, huh? Looks like a normal bird . . . wait a 'sec!"

"What?" Stockwell asked.

Robbins pointed at the area under the cockpit of one of the F-96s. "Read the names . . . and the unit, too," he whispered to the Navy chief beside him.

Stockwell looked over, and then blinked:

**CAPT THOMAS V. KAZANSKI  
"ICEMAN"  
CO USS ARIZONA SBB-72**

**CAPT RONALD R. KERNER  
"SLIDER"  
XO USS ARIZONA SBB-72**

"What the heck?" Stockwell breathed out as his mind tried to rationalise that. "We don't have no _Arizona_ in commission now!" he then complained. "Especially no _battleship_! And what's with that 'S' in front of the hull code?"

Robbins sighed. "I guess it's just like the admiral ordered."

The Navy chief blinked, and then nodded. "'You don't see nothing, you don't hear nothing, you don't think nothing . . . and you goddamned well don't ever SAY nothing!'" he repeated the CNO's acerbic warning before these planes had arrived.

"Roger that, Chief," Robbins said before he headed off to check the secure line of riflemen from Camp David that were now standing guard outside the now-closed hangar doors; even if Andrews Air Force Base was a military installation and it was getting past midnight, it was also in a very heavily built-up area and a camera with a good night vision device tacked onto it would be able to get some great shots.

Stockwell watched him go, and then he blinked as he looked back at the writing on Tom Kazanski's F-96 as a distant memory came to him. "'Iceman.' 'Slider,'" he quoted the two captains' call-signs, and then he turned to walk around the front end of the one Starfire to head over to gaze on the hull of the other one:

**CAPT PETER T. MITCHELL**  
**"MAVERICK"**  
**CAG CVW-72**

**CDR SAMUEL R. WELLS**  
**"MERLIN"**  
**DCAG CVW-72**

"'Maverick.' 'Merlin,'" the chief then said before shaking his head. "Nah . . . no way!" he muttered to himself before heading off . . .

* * *

Aboard Marine One, two hours later . . .

"Sorry you have to stay up all night for this, Mister President."

"I'm rather used to it, Captain," the President of the United States of America stated with his normal warm smile as he handed back the booklet that Kerner had given him to glance through, just like the other one he had given to the chief executive's friend who had once served as a senator representing the state of Tennessee and would hopefully in the next few months be elected the forty-third President. "Believe me, even if the cold war with the Russians died down in the early 1960s thanks to General Secretary Khrushchev, the cold war - or rather, the crazy 'peace treaty' that actually is nothing more than an armed truce! - with the Japanese is still ongoing."

"So Communism went out of style back then here, huh?" Mitchell asked. "You didn't have a war in Vietnam or . . . " He then caught himself. "Oh, that's right! Vietnam's part of a united Indochina here. They've been buddy-buddy with Tōkyō ever since Big Mistake Number Two came to an end back in '46." At the surprised looks from both the President and the Vice-President, the carrier air group commander then added, "The kids on _Freedom_ gave us the basic lowdown on what's happened here."

"It went out of style after the puppet government in Manchukuo managed to eliminate both the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communists to take over the country in early 1945 - after the Nazis attacked Tōkyō and Kyōto with their nuclear V-2s - as well as removing the Korean Communists to allow a pro-Japanese independence government to move into power in Sŏul. There was no support for Stalin's way of doing things from abroad after he died in '52 and Khrushchev took full advantage of it," the President stated. "That, added to the military aide the Japanese were willing to give to groups that were ready to take over the occupied territories they wanted to vacate guaranteed that they would continue to have strong allies protecting their western and southern flanks as they moved to consolidate and form a hard defensive line to the east and north to keep us and the Soviets - and later, the Russians - away."

"The nuclear bombs they made obviously helped there," Kazanski noted.

"They did," the President affirmed with a nod of his head. "So this whole thing about the Visitor - as we came to call the _Freedom_ - all relates to _The Program_, right? Those kids we've seen up there thanks to the KH-11s . . . " The visitors from _Arizona_ were quick to see the look of wide-eyed confusion in the Arkansan's eyes. "They're actually the REAL kids who participated in _The Program_ here? All the way from 1947 to last week? Including Shūya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa?"

"Yes, sir," _Arizona_'s captain affirmed with a nod. "A device of such incredible power and such profound capabilities that all information on it was automatically classified with a top secret/special codeword access name when we first learned of it . . . was used by a native of the planet Phentax Two to draw the living souls of all the members of Class 3-B of Shiroiwa Junior High School in the current school year out of their bodies at time of death - or in Shūya's and Noriko's cases, right after they settled down here in New York City - to force them into bioroid bodies created on the factory Ron here told you about." He nodded to Kerner in emphasis. "The girls in that class were placed in clone bodies. The boys would have been forced through gender reassignment thanks to the limitations the factory imposes on those it creates."

"For what purpose?" the Chief of Naval Operations then asked.

"Child sex-slaves, Admiral," Mitchell stated.

Silence.

"Oh, my dear GOD!" the President breathed out.

"Yes, sir, that's what we thought when we learned this happened," Kazanski coldly stated. "Fortunately for them, about the time the girls were about to be woken, a combined invasion force from the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios and the Royal Kingdoms of Yehisril - they're two of the local galactic superpowers in our universe - hit the planet the factory was marooned on. Our director and her siblings were involved in that. Since the Director's brother was seen by the Niphentaxians as their 'great evil' - as well as being a fan of the manga series based on the novel that, in our universe, recorded those kids' story; it's called _Battle Royale_, ironically - the man who saved Noriko and her friends decided to use them as fighters to kill the Moroboshi siblings. He let out Mizuho Inada first." A smirk. "That was one hell of a fatal mistake. Even if Mizuho can be medically diagnosed as delusional and a schizophrenic - though I think she's recovering from it - she has a heart in her the size of the _Arizona_. As soon as she was out, she fought her would-be 'master' for control of the Staff of Gihan, won and then terminated him with extreme prejudice."

"Good for her!" the CNO said, nodding in approval as their other hosts all smiled.

"So they eventually decided to use this device to rescue all the _Program_ participants, all the way back from 1947, right?" the Secretary of Defence asked.

"That's correct, sir," Kazanski said with a nod.

"How many are we talking about?" the Vice-President wondered.

"To date, sir: 108,822 people. Of them, 66,402 - all the girls who ever were involved and all of Noriko's male classmates - are back on their feet."

"And - once Miss Noda gets the DNA scans of all the other boys - you can then go back to your dimension and use the factory and this Staff to help the other boys get back on their feet, right?" the Vice-President then asked.

"Yes, sir. It's a really KISS-simple, plan."

"You realise there may be a new 'episode' starting tomorrow, don't you?" the President then wondered. "What will you do with them?"

"Well, right now, aboard _Haida_, _Arizona_ and _Yamato_, you have about a third of a Canadian Army infantry battalion battle group, a troop of your standard United States Navy SEAL Team, two-thirds of a United States Marine Corps expeditionary unit and three-quarters of an airborne infantry battalion from the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Forces all sharpening their knifes and oiling their weapons. If it all goes south tomorrow and we need the Staff to save those kids, no one involved in this new episode will ever leave whatever island they're basing it from alive, Mister President," Kazanski stated. "Along the way, ANYONE who has either directly or indirectly worked for _The Program_ or Republic Army Combat Experiment Program Number 68 - as well as those who have given it full moral support - will get to experience all the fear and other emotions all their victims felt during their times 'playing the game' . . . all at once."

Silence.

"Oh, my God . . . " the CNO breathed out.

"Have you ever read Tom Clancy, Admiral?" Wells asked.

"He's a very popular author here," the President affirmed with a nod.

"Has the book _Executive Orders_ come out yet, sir?" the DCAG then asked.

"Came out in '96," the Vice-President stated.

"In there - at least in our universe's version of the book - is the concept of the 'Ryan Doctrine,' Mister Vice-President," Wells explained. "Director Moroboshi is a big fan of the series and she loves the operational concept of actually going after the idiots that _start_ wars instead of concentrating all the energy and firepower on the poor front-line crunchies that do the fighting without understanding the real reasons why. What the Director suggested to Noriko and her friends is a direct application of that very idea."

Their hosts all nodded in understanding. For years, successive governments in America since Harry S. Truman's first term in the White House had howled again and again about _The Program_ and what it was ultimately doing to generations of young Japanese men and women. However, there was little beyond words that Washington could employ against Tōkyō in this case to make the Republic put an end to Experiment Program 68. Economically, the Greater East Asia Republic was part of the "Oriental Commonwealth of Nations," a closed-off free-trade group that was as powerful by itself as America and Europe combined and was gaining a lot of ground in taking over new markets everywhere else. Militarily, the threat of nuclear Armageddon by the Commonwealth members on any potential foe had been enough to keep America and Russia away from directly bringing pressure to bear on Japan to put a stop to such practices. And socially, the virtual racism many government leaders in Tōkyō felt for Western peoples as a whole - which was, according to all the propaganda the Republic pumped out, a thing that was still dominating attitudes among the older generations who had been touched one way or another by World War Two - guaranteed that even the most humane suggestion concerning "the grave civic duty" that "called" people to participate in _The Program_ would be automatically condemned simply as a clear demonstration of the "moral weakness of the white man."

Within twenty-four hours, the men inside Marine One then realised, it would ALL change . . . and change with the sudden speed of a falling guillotine blade.

"Oh, my God! The whole government there is going to get gutted!" the Secretary of Defence then breathed out. "Not to mention almost all their internal security forces AND possibly a pretty good-sized chunk of their armed forces!"

"It could lead to total chaos!" the Vice-President warned.

"What do you plan to do after this happens?" the President then asked.

Kazanski sighed. "What we plan to do is two-fold, Mister President. One: Help those kids start a new life back home once they're more than satisfied that whatever justice they want has been achieved. And two: Convince those who have been fighting to put a stop to _The Program_ and all the other excesses the Republic has unleashed on its citizens to take charge in Japan and start reforming the country in a more humane direction. They are there, sir. Shinji Mimura's uncle was a dissident against the government, as was Shōgo Kawada's father. Shinji's aunt was the person who helped Shūya and Noriko escape from Japan. There are obviously many others who can move in and take over once the old crowd is effectively wiped out. And once that happens and the reforms go into place, I think that you can look forward to a much more peaceful world, one that could make all of Japan's allies - who we all know don't truthfully care for _The Program_ - rethink a lot of their own ideas and come rejoin the rest of humanity."

"What if they _don't_ succeed, Captain?" the Secretary then asked.

"Oh, they'll have no choice BUT to succeed, Mister Secretary," Kazanski warned, a smirk crossing his face. "When this happens, they won't realise what we know and we just told you: The _Program_ participants CAN'T live in this dimension for more than a year after their arrival here yesterday! So those who would want the reforms to either go very slow or stop it all together won't be able to simply 'sweep the kids under the rug' and make them vanish. THAT one simple fact will hit the parents and relatives of those kids real hard. They'll learn their children and relatives are alive again, which will be a literal gift from the gods in their eyes . . . and then - as if the gods had turned their backs on them! - they will learn they WON'T have their children and relatives live with them anymore. And given how angry and betrayed those kids feel right now considering those of their relatives who didn't lift a finger to stop _The Program_ from happening at all . . . that will hit those who DO care for them REAL hard."

"That'll make them push for it to NEVER happen again," Wells stated.

"There's also the threat of the kids coming back in case they believe _The Program_ might start up again," Mitchell added. "As for everyone else on Earth here, I'm sure that once she's able to concentrate on other problems, the Director might be amicable to allow scientists here and in other countries to learn the basic physics, metaphysics and other scientific theories behind the Sagussan technology that powers the Earth Defence Force. Once you get a head-start in putting those theories into actual scientific applications, you can then use that as a carrot to convince the Republic and their allies in the Commonwealth to change their ways. As Slider explained to you all earlier, we can't leave ANY artefacts that you can use to reverse-engineer and develop your own technology. The physical laws of interdimensional travel don't allow that sort of thing; that's the reason the kids can't stay here in this dimension more than one solar year at a time. So we have to just leave you the theoretical equations and all the scientific knowledge to let you work it out from there."

"And I'm sure we can do a quick reconnaissance of the area around the solar system before we head home," Kerner added. "We haven't had the time to take a basic look around with our systems; we've been more worried about those kids. But once it's all said and done, we can certainly take some time to do some fast recon trips to make sure things are all safe for you as you start heading out into deep space."

"That would be appreciated," the President stated, nodding in approval.

"Are you comfortable with this situation you're in, Captain?"

Eyes locked on the Chief of Naval Operations, who had a confused look on his face. "What do you mean, Admiral?" Kazanski then wondered.

"Actually working under a TEENAGER?" the admiral demanded.

The four men from _Arizona_ laughed on hearing that. "She's a lot older than you would assume at first, sir!" Mitchell explained. "When this is over, we'll get her to come around and visit! Once you meet the Director, you'll understand then!"

Their hosts all nodded. "Well, since it's getting close to dawn and you all will be quite busy tomorrow - added onto the fact that we don't want anyone to spot those F-96s of yours in broad daylight - we best let you all head back," the President then said as he offered his hand to them. "Much that I may be forced to say some sort of neutral garbage to the press when this happens, I'll personally say that everything you do to help those kids start their lives up in a safer place is the right thing to do!"

Kazanski shook his hand. "We'll pass that on to the Director once we get back, Mister President," the captain promised . . .

* * *

Tōkyō, the Ministry of Internal Security, that moment . . .

"All dead?"

"Yes, sir," Lieutenant-Commander Sanada Mikiya stated. An officer of the Republic Navy, he was the liaison officer between the Intelligence Bureau and the Internal Security Ministry. He also helped in the training of in-shore patrol boat crews from the so-called "Non-Aggressive Defensive Army" - officially, they were called the 68th Home Defence Operations Division - the all-volunteer interior special operations forces of the Army that was normally assigned to serve as emergency support forces for the Internal Security Ministry's paramilitary police divisions across the Republic. All those who worked in the NADA were people who had to show total support for _The Program_ and all of the Republic's other strategic goals before they were welcomed into the ranks, thus guaranteeing that any attempts by _Program_ participants - especially the beautiful female ones - to make them betray their oaths would ultimately fail. It wasn't a perfect system, but it had worked so far . . . though the previous weekend's failure had sent a shockwave through the ranks of the 68th, especially the battalion that was normally assigned to work in Shikoku. "I spoke with all the liaison officers of the other Commonwealth intelligence agencies here in Tōkyō concerning those who had escaped _The Program_ and fled to their home countries. As you know, we allowed this in the past since those escapees clearly showned quite good skill in avoiding our attempts at re-capturing them and they also allowed us to better locate those anti-_Program_ dissidents who moved to help them flee the Home Islands. They confirmed that the same thing had happened to ALL of the escapees who fled the Republic as to ALL of the winners of _The Program_ who had chosen to live in seclusion in Japan. Even more so, I obtained copies of autopsy reports for those here in Japan that were examined before they were cremated and buried."

"And?" Tsugawa Masahiko asked.

"The cause of death was determined as 'natural causes,' Minister," Sanada stated. "In effect, their hearts just stopped beating. Back from the first winners of _The Program_ back in Year Three to this very day, sir. No use of poison or overdosing on medicines, no acts of seppuku or other forms of physical suicide, NOTHING that could indicate what happened to them! Even more so, ALL the winners died usually within two to four months of the end of their particular event!" He tapped the folder he had brought with him, which he had presented to the internal security minister when he had come in. "Every time."

"Every time?" Tsugawa parroted the younger man.

"Every time, Minister."

Silence fell as the aged politician took that in, and then he stood up. "Why was this never investigated before? Surely, SOMEONE must have noticed what was going on here! People who proved their strength in surviving _The Program_ just up and DYING all over the place! And ALL at the same time after the end of each event? Wasn't there any reports in the newspapers about this?"

"No, sir," Sanada answered, shaking his head. "As far as the people Major Anjō have looking into this could tell - and again, we don't have a firm theory either which way about this whole situation - the relatives of the winners all just FORGOT they ever existed!" As Tsugawa gaped in disbelief at him, the Navy officer added, "Or simply were made to not make any noise to anyone else about their deaths. Again, we can't say how on Earth this happened, but the evidence is there! It has happened, Minister!"

The older man considered that, and then he asked, "Why?"

"We can't say, sir. The only thing I personally can conclude about this is that whoever is up on that alien ship over our heads at this time . . . " Sanada then took a deep breath. " . . . might actually be the REAL _Program_ participants, Minister." As his host's jaw dropped in disbelief on his saying that, the lieutenant-commander sighed. "I realise it sounds totally insane, sir . . . but given what has been discovered so far, it MAY explain how is it that the Space Agency's satellites were able to spot five of the participants in Event 56-30 - four of which who are supposed to be DEAD! - on the bridge of that ship."

"You can't resurrect the dead!" the minister spat out.

"Agreed, especially from the wounds those who fall in _The Program_ normally suffer. But maybe - just maybe! - they didn't HAVE to go that far, sir," Sanada reported. "Maybe - and again, I realise this is just a wild theory - whoever built that ship in orbit over our heads has the technology that could have done something akin to that. Without making physical contact with any of the participants . . . and without our realising what was going on. Not just those who died. But those who survived. And it could also explain why the survivors' relatives were made to forget this happened."

"So that we could never find out about this?" the minister added. "Not even suspect it was happening right under our very noses? Is that what you're implying, Sanada-san?"

"Hai!" A sigh. "Again, it sounds totally insane, but it's a theory that works given all the evidence we have right now and are soon to inquire."

Tsugawa hummed. "What about Nanahara and Nakagawa? Both of them were confirmed to have landed in Hawai'i after they fled the country almost within two days of fleeing Oki-shima - according to the Intelligence Bureau, there were American Marine V-22 tilt-rotors clandestinely operating in the area of the ship we suspected took them away from the Home Islands - and were said to have been taken to a safe house on the American east coast. Have we confirmed what happened to them?"

"The Intelligence Bureau is looking into it now, Minister. Not to mention trying to find out who here supported that extraction. However, I must remind you that the American FBI and CIA are VERY good at keeping things hidden. The FBI's witness-protection program set up to protect those who are threatened by retaliation by criminals could have been activated to further shield Nanahara and Nakagawa. If that happened, our chances of trying to trace them down are next to zero. And if they DID die and Clinton orders their deaths kept secret . . . " Sanada then blinked. "Then we'll probably never know what happened to them, sir."

Tsugawa blinked as he considered that, and then his face turned pale. "Oh, ye gods! You mean to say . . . that the Americans might KNOW about the alien ship?"

"Hai," Sanada stated, his own face paling at that implication. "I just thought of it right now, Minister. If it's true . . . " He then grimaced. "We need to make preparations to attack the alien vessel with our strategic forces, sir."

The minister gazed at him; he had always liked Sanada's quick mind. "Can that be done?"

A nod. "Hai. The alien ship is now at four hundred-and-fifty kilometres above mean sea level in Tōkyō Bay. Well within the range of both land- and sea-based strategic missile units. I would recommend an attack by our missile submarines as they are quite stealthy."

"Could they be detected from orbit?"

"No, sir. I actually served on the _Musashi_ before I switched to full-time intelligence work. Our missile submarines can operate further down than either the American Ohio-class ships or the Russian Akula-class ships do. They are even built to launch their missiles from very low depths, which is something the Americans, the Russians, the British and the French do not do with their missile submarines. As you might know, our shipboard missiles are deployed in a similar way as the Nazi A-4 missiles used against us in 1945 were used. A sealed tube with stabilising fins carrying the missile inside is ejected from the silo on the submarine, then forcefully pressurised to rise to the surface as quickly as possible. One the tube reaches the surface, the top is blown open and the missile is launched. It's virtually undetectable by even OUR technology unless the detecting platform is almost on top of it." He then paused as he considered something else, and then he added, "And given that those people up there are using _alien_ technology to support whatever they're doing, I believe it's even within the realm of possibility that those who provided that ship to those people won't even consider a _submarine_-launched weapons platform threatening them."

"What do you suggest?"

"We need more detailed reconnaissance, sir," Sanada stated. "The Space Agency can provide same with the Hō'ō satellites." The Phoenix satellites were the Republic's answer to the American's Keyhole system; it was one of them that had first revealed the presence of the _Program_ participants on the alien ship. "We have to closely watch what's going on aboard that ship right to the very moment we decide to strike. And when we do strike, sir, it must be done with overwhelming strength and total surprise. We have seventy missile submarines, most of which are currently at sea in the central Pacific region. All within close range of the alien ship. It will just take minutes to have the missiles programmed to attack the target, not to mention have them linked with ground-tracking stations in case the target tries to dodge clear. The Army missile regiments can defend the Republic in case the Americans or the Russians decide to take advantage of our 'weakness' in strategic defence."

Tsugawa nodded. "I'll have to talk to the Navy and Army Ministers then . . . " he breathed out before he gazed on the former submariner that now worked for him. "Get the satellites as close as possible to that ship. I want constant filming - as much as can be done! - of that ship, especially all exposed windows like that bridge structure where we spotted Nakagawa and the others. Hopefully, whoever is really behind that ship being here will expose themselves and we'll prove or disprove your theory, Sanada-san!" He then perked. "You were scheduled to go down to Taka-shima to personally supervise the patrol boat staff down there for Event 56-31, correct?"

"Hai!"

"Can you assign someone to take your place?"

Sanada considered that, and then he said, "Lieutenant Takahashi, sir. He was originally trained in those type of boats."

"Get him down there now! I need you here!"

A deep bow. "Hai!"

* * *

"Why do I have to go?"

"Don't argue about it, Lieutenant!" Sanada stated as he stared at Takahashi Hikaru. The young lieutenant, like the former submariner, was once a line officer before he switched over to full-time intelligence work. Takahashi - as Sanada had told Tsugawa earlier - had been trained as an operations officer in coastal patrol ships, quite similar to the in-shore vessels the officers and men of the NADA made use of to close off the islands picked to serve as locations for _Program_ events. Even though he wasn't a full-time NADA man, he had taken flack for last weekend's spectacular failure in security that resulted in the death of Kamon Yonemi, the wounding of several NADA soldiers and the loss of a patrol boat in the escape of Nanahara Shūya and Nakagawa Noriko from Oki-shima. Remembering that, Sanada could understand why Takahashi would be hesitant in being directly present at the site of the following episode of _The Program_. If the new class being pulled from the senior grade at Shikanotoride Junior High School near Nagasaki was _anything_ like the class that had come from Shiroiwa . . .!

The commander took a deep breath. "You know about the alien ship, don't you?"

"Hai," Takahashi said, nodding.

"There are some new theories about what's going on up there. The chance is there - and again, I have to warn you, this hasn't been proven one way or another - that the people on that ship are the ACTUAL participants of _The Program_, both alive and dead, ever since this whole project began in Year Three," Sanada warned.

The lieutenant gaped at his superior for a moment, and then paused as he took a chance to consider it. "The fact that all the winners were later found dead . . . "

"AND no one ever saying a word about it to the authorities," Sanada finished for Takahashi. "If what we're thinking now about this whole business is true, the chances might be there that those kids are running that ship WITHOUT any sort of trained assistance from whatever alien race is helping them. And if THAT'S true . . . we have them."

"Submarine rockets?" the lieutenant automatically asked.

"Hai," the commander replied, nodding . . .

. . . before the door to his office opened to reveal a wide-eyed Anjō Gō. "Sanada-kun!" the army major snapped as he came inside, a folder in hand. "You have to see these!" he said as he handed the folder over to Sanada.

The former submariner took the folder and opened it. One look made his jaw drop. "When were these taken, Anjō-kun?" he demanded.

"Just ten minutes ago!" Anjō replied.

"Oh, ye gods . . .!" Sanada breathed out as his mind quickly called up names to what had just been found. "Nanahara . . . Mimura . . . Kiriyama . . . Kiriyama's gang friends . . . and _KAWADA_!" he then hissed on recognising one particular face. "Oh, you stupid, arrogant son-of-a-bitch!" he then growled on recognising the doctor's son from Kōbe - Sawada had been friends with Kamon Yonemi and had taken the field team director's murder by Kawada Shōgo hard - before blinking as he noticed something that clearly stood out in that picture. "Who's this girl?" he demanded, pointing.

Anjō and Takahashi looked. "We don't know," the major stated. "She doesn't match up to any picture of any known _Program_ participant. She's also a little older than the others we've seen on that ship. We estimate she's about seventeen or eighteen. You notice she's not in a school uniform and doesn't have a nametag like all the others do," he said as he pointed to that particular person. "The Minister just told me what you came up with, Sanada-kun. If your theory's right . . . "

"Then she might be the one who's directing all this," the commander finished. "We have to find out who she is. She may be a dissident. She may be a _nisei_ descendant living abroad and working for the Americans or someone else. Have you passed this on?"

"The Intelligence Bureau is working on it now," Anjō stated.

"Good!" Sawada breathed out, and then he gazed on Takahashi. "See if you can get help from the Sasebo Arsenal when you get down there to make sure the patrol boat crews are ready to go, Lieutenant! I'm sure some of your old friends in the Coastal Fleet will be happy to be doing an exercise in that area when Event 56-31 goes down."

"I can talk to some people," Takahashi said as he nodded in understanding, and then he straightened himself, giving his superior a parade-perfect salute that would have impressed the drill petty officers at Eta-jima. "Just make sure those missiles your friends in the Silent Service launch hit their target."

Sanada returned the courtesy. "I'll make sure of it, Hikaru-kun!"

_**To be continued . . .**_


	20. The New Game Begins

_Haida_, the main observation room . . .

"And here's the private lounge we built for those who want to have some quiet time alone," Ki Tsukihana said as he over to the main entrance to the stairs that led up to it. "You'll note the slide sign here." He indicated the sign posted on the bulkhead to the right of the stairs, which had three positions: UNOCCUPIED, OCCUPIED/OPEN, OCCUPIED/PRIVATE. The sign indicated the middle option. "What it means is someone's up there now, but he or she won't mind if people came in."

"You sure build a nice ship, kid," Kawada Shōgo said before he winced on feeling Inoue Keiko punch him in the arm at his rough language towards the young genius from Chichibu. Also with the star couple of Kōbe 2nd District Junior High School were the star couple of Shiroiwa Junior High School: Yamamoto Kazuhiko and Ogawa Sakura. "You do private yachts, too?" He then winced again as Keiko punched him harder. "Hey!"

"Nah, I don't really care for sissy stuff like that, Sempai!" Tsukihana - who had shocked ALL the _Program_ participants who knew of him due to his being the equivalent of a SIXTH-YEAR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL student, yet he was the primary designer of such complex starships like _Haida_ and her sisters - then said with a smirk. "Bunjaku might do something like that in the future, but right now, we're still working the bugs out on these ships, not to mention preparing the new Type Two destroyers so we can get other nations into the EDF." He then hummed. "There might be Avalonian architects who once were forced to work for the Niphentaxians who might be able to do that. You never know."

"I have a question, though."

"What's that, Sakura-nēchan?"

"Why do people call you 'Kōgetsuei?'"

Tsukihana smirked. "How much do you remember of kanji lessons?"

"Quite a bit," Sakura affirmed.

"Well, my family name 'Ki' is written with the kanji that means 'yellow.' As in the colour." He pulled up his own personal dataPADD, activated the touch-drawing function, then sketched out his family name. "The _on'yomi_ reading of this is 'kō.' Or sometimes, 'ō.' My given name 'Tsukihana' is written with the kanji for 'moon leaf.' In _on'yomi_, you read it 'getsuei.' So 'Ki Tsukihana' can be read as 'Kōgetsuei.'"

"'Kōgetsuei' . . . " Keiko then trilled out. "Wait a minute! Wasn't she the wife of Shokatsuryō? That really smart Chinese leader from the Three Kingdoms period?"

"Oh, I remember that!" Kazuhiko said. "He was the one who invented all those things like the compass, a machine gun version of the crossbow . . . "

"And his wife was a pretty smart person, too," Keiko noted.

"Yeah, back then, I was."

Silence.

"SAY WHAT?" Shōgo exclaimed.

"'Tis the truth, Master Shōgo!"

"Mizuho!" Sakura and Keiko yelped in delight on seeing the woman who was now pretty much the undisputed mistress of the Staff of Gihan descend from the observation lounge, said Sagussan super-weapon in her hand and the crystal mounted on it glowing brightly even if it still seemed enshrouded by darkness. "How are you doing?" Sakura then asked.

A sigh. "I am well, friend Sakura. My thanks for your concern. Soon, I will feel ready enough to take the Staff to the _Freedom_ so it may draw more strength from all of you before we unleash the punishment the Great Emperor suggested unto our foes in the morrow." She then gazed on Shōgo. "And indeed, Master Shōgo, the good Master Tsukihana speaks the truth of having lived before as the blessed Lady Huáng Yuèyīng, the wife of the noble Lord Chancellor Zhūgě Liàng, Master Kǒngmíng. Who, I am pleased to note, also lives today as Master Tsukihana's most beloved Lady Ryōko."

"Well, I'm not ready for THAT stuff, Mizuho-nēchan!" a blushing Tsukihana then sputtered out as the older teenagers save Mizuho all chuckled or giggled.

"But how's that possible?" Kazuhiko then asked before he stopped himself, and then he slapped the heel of his hand into his forehead, which made Sakura giggle at his show of humility. "Duh! What am I saying? If it was possible for us to ultimately survive _The Program_, why couldn't it have happened to other people?"

"At least you have only endured ONE resurrection, Sempai," Tsukihana then said. "Me? I've been here and back again FIFTEEN times since my first life!"

"Whoa . . .!" Shōgo breathed out.

Keiko then gazed on Mizuho. "Is that why you call Hiromi-sempai 'emperor?'"

"Aye, Lady Keiko. The Great Emperor WAS an emperor in her first life. In our language, she was the Reitei Emperor of the Gokan Dynasty of old China. Her name back then was 'Liú Hóng.' And like we, she has only endured one resurrection. But before that happened and she was allowed to live again as 'Moroboshi Hiromi,' the Great Emperor was forced to witness again and again as the other great worthies of that time were born and reborn again and again across the vast Middle Kingdom, then into most lovely Korea before their souls were allowed to be born again within the Home Islands of their - and now OUR - home dimension over the last eighteen centuries." She looked down. "The Master tested her and she learned well from that lesson. She has won the favour of the Heavens, thus she has come to give all 'tōshi' - as those such as Master Tsukihana are called as a whole - a new path to escape the endless dark cycle that has haunted their souls for eighteen centuries. As she has done to all of us."

"Why didn't you tell us this earlier, Mizuho?" Sakura then demanded.

"Friend Sakura, I DID try to tell you! Many a time!" Mizuho reminded her before a wry smile turned her lips up. "'Twas everyone's feelings of total abandonment in the wake of our escaping _The Program_, never to live the lives we once had ever again - not to mention how my own beliefs tended to frighten you all - that made you not listen."

Hearing that, Sakura looked ready to collapse onto her knees and weep. Mizuho's hand to her shoulder caught her. "Do not be regretful, Sakura!" the would-be warrior-priestess advised her. "It is no matter that it is later than we initially planned! We are close to being forever liberated of the shackles of our past! Soon, we will be back where we belong, free to make true and noble lives for us all! You have Master Kazuhiko with you again! The Lady Keiko has Master Shōgo with her again! Soon, all will be reunited with all and we will all be merry for years to . . .!"

She stopped as a growling noise escaped from somewhere in her abdomen, which made everyone gape at her before they nearly fell on their butts in peals of laughter. Mizuho had the courtesy to look sheepish. "However, methinks 'tis time for a quick meal before I continue the meditation exercises the Earth Angel commanded I do! Excuse me, please!"

And with that, she was off, using the Staff as a walking cane as she headed for the nearest turbolift station. The others watched her go, and then Shōgo shook her head. "Nuttier than a fruitcake, that one!" he exclaimed. "What is WITH that girl?"

"Hey!" Keiko snapped as she glared at him. "Leave her be! If it wasn't for that 'fruitcake,' as you like to call her, most of us would still be DEAD! And I don't want to even THINK of what might have happened to you and all the boys in your class!"

He jolted, and then sighed. "Sorry . . .!"

Kazuhiko and Sakura both exchanged grins as Tsukihana chuckled . . .

* * *

The operations room . . .

"How long has he been just sitting there and staring at that hologram?"

"About the last hour or so," the senior non-commissioned member of _Haida_'s combat department, Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Ahmed Negm, answered as he exchanged looks with the Canadian starship's coxswain. "Ever since Miss Nakagawa asked him to do a full evaluation of what might happen when they launch that brain burn-out operation they're going to pull on those bastards dirt-side tomorrow morning."

CPO1 Jacques Beaulieu nodded in understanding before he glanced over to one corner of the operations room. While there was enough lighting to pick up every person that was in the room, the woman now seated by one of the minor operations monitor station watching over Kiriyama Kazuo was almost invisible thanks to the solid black martial arts uniform she normally wore like her sister normally wore jeans and a T-shirt when she wasn't attending school. And given how still Moroboshi Negako was now, it was quite easy to think that she wasn't there. Shuddering as he remembered what Marc Duchesne had once told him about how well-skilled the ninjutsu grandmaster actually was in hand-to-hand combat - in the Canadian context, the Director's elder sister was tough enough to eat everyone in Joint Task Force Two for breakfast, then enjoy some veterans of the long-disbanded Canadian Airborne Regiment for a snack later in the day - the coxswain then sighed. "So has he told anyone anything about what might happen tomorrow?"

"There is one possibility."

Both men perked, and then turned as that icy stare which nearly matched that of Negako's normal indifferent look focused on them. "What's that?" Negm asked.

Kiriyama Kazuo turned back to gaze on the holographic map he had brought up of the Pacific Ocean to the east and south of the Home Islands of Japan. Two icons were above Tōkyō, one marked FREEDOM, the other beyond it marked HAIDA/ARIZONA/YAMATO, both at the actual scaled distance of kilometres above the capital city of the Greater East Asia Republic. "In your universe, Chief Negm, is the Royal Canadian Navy still primarily focused on anti-submarine warfare missions to protect sea lanes of communication between North America and Europe?" he asked as he gazed on the senior naval communicator.

"It's not the only mission, but we still train for it. Why?"

"Missile submarines."

Silence.

"Your country has _boomers_?" Beaulieu demanded.

"Seventy such ships of the Yamato-class, all named after the old imperial provinces of Japan," Kazuo answered. "My family was one of the primary investors in the Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company, which provides the civilian staff to the dockyards in Kure, just outside the city of Hiroshima. As I understand also happened in your universe, the largest battleship ever built - the first _Yamato_ - was constructed in Kure between 1937 and 1940." As the two senior Canadian navy servicemen nodded, Kazuo pointed to the area of the Pacific Ocean southeast of Tōkyō. "The current Yamato-class ballistic missile submarines are nuclear-powered craft similar in size to the Russian Akula-class vessels, the ones normally called the 'Typhoon' class. But they carry thirty missiles with similar capabilities to the Trident D-5 system used on the American Ohio-class ships. And they can be launched from depths of up to fifteen hundred metres; the missiles are each encased in a special protective canister which is propelled up to the surface to be launched once there. Thus making it virtually undetectable unless the searching unit is almost right atop it."

Beaulieu blinked, and then he tapped a control. "Cox'n to RSMR."

"RSMR, Bethell here."

"Miranda, get up to Ops right now. We need to ask you something."

"Aye-aye, Chief."

The sonar operator - there had yet to be a division petty officer assigned to the Non-Tactical Sensor Group (which the Remote Sensor Monitor Room staff would fall under) for all the sonar operators assigned to _Haida_, so PO2 Miranda Bethell was doing double-duty as division PO as well as the chief of the RSMR - soon came into the operations room. "What is it, Chief?" she asked, nodding greetings to Negm.

"Mister Kiriyama, describe the capabilities of the Yamato-class SSBNs to the petty officer," the coxswain then bade. "Especially how it launches its missiles."

Kazuo quickly did a recap of what he had just told the two chief petty officers. Listening to what was being said, Bethell started to pale. "You mean your submariners are crazy enough to launch a Trident from over a KILOMETRE below the surface?"

"It has worked in tests, Petty Officer Bethell," Kazuo stated. "The fact that our submarines can't be realistically detected by American attack submarines is a thing that is often spoken of in official Republic Navy press releases. That one part of our 'nuclear triad' is so untouchable has been the primary reason we've been able to keep both the Americans and the Russians - and the Soviets before 1961 - away from trying to finish off what they started in the Greater East Asia War."

"Can the systems your people make use of find these things, Miranda?" Negm asked.

"I don't know, but I think it's possible," Bethell mused. "I think we need to get in an expert from _Arizona_ that did time on an Ohio to make sure."

"Shizuka!"

"Yes, Chief?" Odagiri Shizuka, a prospective naval communicator trained to use the secure communications systems the EDF could make use of, asked from her station.

"Call over to _Arizona_. Tell whoever's there we need someone who's done time on a boomer to come here and talk to us about detecting one very deep. If they ask, tell them Mister Kiriyama's old homeland's got seventy SSBNs and they're built to launch their birds from almost a nautical mile down. The birds are Trident D5-equivalents."

"Aye-aye, Chief!"

* * *

Ten minutes later . . .

"Holy fuck! Are you SERIOUS?"

"I am."

Chief Missile Technician (Submarine Warfare) Brian Madden took a deep breath. He had been one of the senior technicians aboard U.S.S. _Alabama_ before he was asked to become one of the first of his trade to serve on anything other than a boomer boat when the first draft of _Arizona_'s crew was called into action for the Yaminokuni mission. It was understandable; _Arizona_'s battery of 288 concussion missile tubes, grouped in eighteen modules of sixteen tubes per module (each tube having a magazine capacity of ten missiles), gave the starship the equivalent firepower BY HERSELF as over HALF the current total American stockpile of nuclear warheads that could be fitted into Trident D5 SLBMs, Minuteman III ICBMs and B61 gravity bombs. Given that the ship's anti-ship/anti-surface missile systems could be fitted with high explosive (bauximite), quasi-nuclear (cobalt) or annihilation (anti-matter) warheads, it was only logical to have missile technicians used to working on Tridents as part of _Arizona_'s crew. The starships manned by personnel from the other declared nuclear powers - Britain's _Hood_, France's _Richelieu_, Russia's _Fyodor F. Ushakov_ and China's _Zhèng Hé_ - were likewise augmented from each nation's strategic missile forces; _Haida_, unfortunately, only had conventionally-trained naval weapons technicians to work on her missile launchers and the missiles itself. "Wow!" he breathed out as he ran over what Kazuo had just told him, and then he perked as he gazed on the younger man. "You sure this isn't some type of disinformation your government put out to put the scare into people?"

A shake of the head. "Two years ago - in my timeline - I actually saw classified reports of actual tests done on the _Shinano_ and the _Musashi_ when it came to firing our submarine-launched missiles into the Pikinni Atoll testing zone. They were in my father's work office at my home in Shiroiwa." A sigh. "We address them as the Kairyū - the Sea Dragon - ballistic missile system. Quite similar in range and power to the Trident D5 missiles on the Ohio-class. But ours can be launched from a greater depth - and in a way that can only be detected at very close range . . . "

"Because the pressurisation that forces the missile canister up to the surface can only be heard by a sonar operator at very close range since it's coming up through the thermocline. Since these things are coming from somewhere very deep and pretty fast, active sonar - and even passive sonar - would have a hell of a time trying to trace one of these damned things before it hits the surface and fires off its load," Miranda Bethell noted. "Whoever captains these ships might be trained to deploy their missile tubes at a certain point, then instruct them to wait until the boomer was well clear before starting their ascent to launch position." She paused before thinking about it. "Christ, these things must be even more undetectable than an Ohio!"

"They probably are," Madden mused. "And there's something more."

"What's that?" Beaulieu wondered.

The American missile technician smirked. "Here we are - a bunch of well-trained and experienced Navy guys, including people who've not only done time on submarines, both attack boats and boomers, but people who've been trained to HUNT submarines - on a STARSHIP that really isn't equipped to pick up things UNDERWATER!" He then nodded to the image of the _Freedom_ on the forward main view screen. "What's worse, since that thing sticks out like neon to a photo-recon satellite, it's virtually a sitting duck if the bozos under the surface of WESTPAC decide to launch these Kairyū missiles at her! Is that thing proofed against multiple SLBM impacts?"

"Possibly, but none of the girls are experienced in dealing with defending themselves against that sort of attack," Kazuo stated. "It's unfortunate that the accident with the Staff happened like it did. It would have been much wiser to come into orbit over Earth at a farther distance than what the _Freedom_ is at now to avoid detection from orbital satellites." He then paused as he considered something else, and then he asked, "Have any of the Hō'ō satellites picked up these ships?"

"As far as we can tell, not yet," Negm answered. "First of all, we're at a much higher orbit than what recon satellites normally orbit Earth. Secondly, recon birds like the Keyhole system are normally pointed DOWN on Earth instead of UP into space. No doubt, when _Freedom_ came here, some sort of ground radar picked her up right away, then everyone thought to turn their cameras outward to get a close look at her. When we came, we automatically threw up a radar-jamming system that would have prevented a ground station from picking us up; it was just luck that a KH-11 spotted us and the Americans here used one of them to send a laser-beam message in Morse Code to ask for the meet Captain Kazanski and his friends had with President Clinton sometime ago in Washington. Third, unlike _Freedom_, all these ships are painted with much duller shade of colours, even the flags on the sides of the hulls. And since we're used to running with the lights doused in night time - which outer space effectively is - there's no bright light to flash out to some camera to say, 'Hey! Big starship here!'"

"That could change, Chief Negm," Kazuo warned. "The military of the Republic - especially the active defence forces in the Army, Navy and the organic air defence arms of both services - are led by some very imaginative people. If they've spotted _Freedom_ and have seen all my classmates and the others aboard, it is within the realm of possibility that someone in Tōkyō might assume that other 'aliens' might be coming."

The military personnel there blinked. "Which means that if any of these Phoenix satellites spot one of our people on the bridge of that ship . . . " Bethell began.

"Oh, fuck!" Beaulieu spat out. "Shizuka!"

"Yes, Chief?"

"Call over to the Director! We need to talk to her!"

"Aye-aye!"

* * *

The _Freedom_ . . .

"You believe that the people in the Interior Security Ministry might be aware that I'm aboard the ship now," Hiromi mused as she gazed on Kazuo's image through the desk communications unit in Noriko's cabin aboard the "borrowed" battlewagon.

"It is strongly within the realm of possibility, Sempai," the most successful participant in _The Program_'s most recent event stated. "You're wearing normal civilian clothes, not a school uniform as everyone else does. You're also quite noticeably older than everyone else aboard the ship. Have any of the military personnel who went aboard went into any of the spaces on _Freedom_ with clear windows present, like the bridge?"

"Not that I'm personally aware of, but it is possible," Hiromi noted. "However, from what I've seen so far - and unfortunately, I haven't been paying very much attention to them - the people who came over from our ships have stayed mostly to the main common areas like the recreation rooms, the training halls, the medical stations and the galleys so that they could examine the people here as quickly as possible." She brought up her communicator and tapped a control. "Moroboshi to Ryback."

"Ryback here," the commander of SEAL Team 72 called back.

"Casey-san, have any of your people gone anywhere close to any of the externally-exposed areas of the ship like the observation galleries or the bridge?"

"No, we've been helping out with the medics in the galleys. Why?"

"Pass it on to all the other landing party commanders. NO ONE is to go anywhere with a large window open to outside space. So far, we appear to be quite invisible to our hosts' would-be opponents and I'd like to keep it that way. I'm just kicking myself for not considering that earlier when I first came aboard."

"I'm sorry," Noriko moaned.

"Hey, you stop that, Noriko!" Ryback chided. "You may be doing the right thing, but you're not a trained military serviceman. You've just a teenager that was made to grow up a little too fast." He then chuckled. "You, too, Hiromi."

Hiromi smiled at the cook/SEAL commander's kind words. "I so look forward to the day that fully-trained crews and officers will take over from we volunteers in these missions," she lamented. "Anyhow, Casey-san, pass it on to all the others."

"Aye-aye, ma'am."

"End call," the reborn emperor stated, and then she slipped her communicator away before turning back to gaze on Kazuo's image being transmitted from _Haida_. "So you believe it's now within the realm of possibility that the Republic's strategic missile submarine force will be ordered to fire upon the _Freedom_ sometime soon."

"It would be the one thing that - in their eyes - would guarantee both surprise and potential success, Sempai," he affirmed. "Granted, I don't believe they could imagine the presence of _starships_ who nominally serve extra-dimensional counterparts of their perceived enemies - to say anything of a starship that serves the Japan of your dimension - but there is a possibility that they might come up with that conclusion somewhere in the Interior Security Ministry in Tōkyō."

Hiromi hummed, and then she tapped a control. "Moroboshi to Mimura."

"Yo, Sempai!" Shinji called back from the main bridge.

"How are you doing trying to cut into the Republic's data networks?"

"Oh, I got into there about twenty minutes ago!" the basketball player said with an amused chuckle. "I'm working through the Interior Security Ministry's mainframe right now. Have to do it real slow and cautious, though. Not to mention make sure I'm not spotted like I was on Oki-shima. The computers on this ship are so powerful, if I push it too much, I'll cause a systems crash down planet-side and then they'll KNOW someone's trying to break into their network. I think I might be able to learn where the next 'episode' of _The Program_ is going to be held, but I can't say when."

"Can you try to get into the Navy Ministry's systems?"

A pause, and then Shinji blinked. "The missile subs, right?"

"If the Republic's Navy runs things like the American Navy does, there has to be a version of what our friends from the United States addresses as Seafarer," Hiromi explained, grateful that Kazuo wasn't the only one of the Shiroiwa class who had kept an eye out on affairs concerning the operations of the government and military forces of the Greater East Asia Republic. Then again, given what Mimura Shinji's late uncle and still-living aunt had done, that was to be expected. "It's an ELF transmitter with shore transmitter units in both Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula that pumps out a 76 hertz signal that can reach practically anywhere on the planet, even to many metres underwater. The Russian version, the ZEVS network, operates at 82 hertz from a transmission station near Múrmansk. So if we look for something in a standard extreme low-frequency range of between three and three hundred hertz emanating from anywhere within the territory of the Republic, it must be a similar type of station."

"I'm overhearing this, Director," CPO2 Ahmed Negm cut in from _Haida_'s operations room, where Kazuo still was. "If you're looking to try to track submarines by an ELF transmission, it won't work. Unless the technology here is way more advanced, there's just no way that a submarine can be fitted with an ELF transmitter. Those type of units are really large and can't fit into a submarine, even the big boomer boats. And because of their unique nature, I have to seriously wonder if the Japanese here make use of such a system. The British tried to set one up in Scotland, but the technology was just too hard to work. Only the Americans and Russians have done it."

"If it's technology, we can do it here," Shinji advised.

"Still, Chief Negm's right about that, ma'am," MTC(SS) Brian Madden added. "The only way an ELF transmission system works is that it sends out messages at VERY SLOW speeds. And it only goes ONE WAY. What happens - at least, this is what happens on an Ohio - is that Seafarer pumps out an ELF transmission. Since it goes slow, it has to be a brief and coded message. If the authority sending out the message wants to hear a response, the message will contain a code that instructs the receiving unit to come to surface depth . . . " His voice then trailed off. "Holy shit . . .!"

"And?" Shinji urged.

"Transmit via VLF - _Very Low Frequency_ - systems from periscope depth!"

"We can track both!"

Hiromi perked. "Satomi-san?"

"Sempai, we can track both types of transmissions from here!" Noda Satomi said. "And if the ELF transmitter is on land, we can just simply do a visual scan of the whole country to find it! Chief Negm, what would something like this look like?"

"I can answer that, ma'am," Madden spoke up. "You need a place with very low ground conductivity; it's actually the opposite of what would normally be needed with other types of radio transmitter sites. What I heard we did with the Seafarer units is sink a pair of electrodes right into the Earth; doing that turns the whole planet into a virtual antenna to send out the signal. And the electrodes would have to be MILES apart from each other, with the actual transmitter unit between them, connected to the electrodes with either wires or poles." He then hummed. "But where would such a place work in Japan? The country is in a major earthquake zone. Even if something like that could be set up in the country in a low ground conductive zone, the number of tremors that run through that country in a YEAR wouldn't make it really practical."

"Unless the transmitter is in an allied country such as China or any other area that would be considered 'friendly' by the Republic Navy and AWAY from the major fault lines," Kazuo then advised. "That is also a possibility. The Republic, after all, is not the only country in the Oriental Commonwealth to make use of missile submarines."

"Still, we could try to track those sorts of transmissions," Satomi noted. "We know the American frequency: 76 hertz. We know the Russian frequency: 82 hertz. If we look for a steady line of transmission in the ELF range of three to 300 hertz and it appears to be emanating from anywhere in the Commonwealth, that logically HAS to be the local equivalent of the Seafarer and ZEVS networks." She then paused before adding, "And if they have to give detailed orders to the missile submarine commanders to re-aim the Kairyū missiles at us, it will have to have to be done via VLF since that sort of detailed orders would need to be sent out in real quick-time to make them comply as soon as possible. Especially if we're moving to position the ship somewhere close to wherever the next _Program_ episode is going to be held to rescue the players."

"There is a problem with your theory, Satomi," Kazuo warned. "What if the Republic Navy's ELF codes contain within them a specific code phrase or character group that would order the missile submarine commanders to reprogram their missiles to fly onto a new target? Perhaps guided by a ground radar station?"

"It can't work that way, Mister Kiriyama," Madden quickly cut in. "You said the Kairyū is a Trident D5 equivalent, right?"

"Yes, Chief Madden."

"Then we've got these guys dead in our sights. They HAVE to get up to periscope depth and go to VLF to get instructions from Navy Headquarters to reprogram their SLBMs and re-target them onto the _Freedom_. SLBMs are not built to be anti-spaceship missiles; they're always designed to come back down to the surface."

"You sure about that?" Shinji wondered.

"I'm a missile tech that was trained on Tridents from the start, Mister Mimura. I know what I'm talking about," Madden stated. "It's all a safety factor in the end. There's NO WAY - unless the idiots running the strategic submarine program for the Republic are completely NUTS! - that they'd program the missile's warheads to go off so soon after launch! Remember, you're only about three hundred miles above the Earth's surface. A missile fired from one of your subs - and I can guess why this would be a good option in the eyes of the Republic Navy - would hit _Freedom_ within SECONDS of launching."

"That's what I was mostly concerned about," Kazuo noted.

"And it's a good thing you were," the American missile technician said. "However, first strike weapons - since they're automatically seen as the type of things to start a no-holds-barred nuclear war - have special safety features put into them to make sure that if the person authorising the launch is even a LITTLE bit hesitant, he can just blow up the missile and hurt no one. Also, the Trident - and I assume the Kairyū, too - is built to go THOUSANDS of miles before blowing up whatever it's supposed to hit. Since it's a first-strike weapon, there are safety factors built into a Trident in case the President decides to abort. The warheads wouldn't arm until they were within a minute at the most before hitting the target. Given what you've all told us of what the Nazis did in '45 to Tōkyō and Kyōto, I have to believe that whoever is the command authority in the Republic has the same capability in the Kairyū."

"I believe that could be correct," Kazuo then stated. "Part of the reason we've been able to hold off any aggression from the Americans and the Russians ever since World War Two ended for all sides effectively in 1946 is that we ARE willing to hit if we feel threatened . . . but we also made it clear and have made it clear all along that we will NOT threaten them with an imminent strike if they do not threaten us."

"MAD, in other words," CPO1 Beaulieu stated. "Mutual assured destruction."

"Indeed."

"So what would the threat of a submarine launched missile - or multiple such attacks - actually be to _Freedom_ in the long term, Chief Madden?" Hiromi asked.

"It's there, Director," Madden replied. "Especially if the attacking platform is sufficiently far away from _Freedom_ - say down around the Caroline or Marshall Islands - to make sure the missile arms before it hits the target."

"What about the EMP?" PO2 Bethell wondered. "_Freedom_ is sitting four hundred kilometres over Tōkyō. If a nuke goes off, the electro-magnetic pulse from the blast is going to knock out everything throughout central Japan, from Ōsaka right up to Sendai!"

"Government systems are hardened against it, ma'am," Shinji answered. "As for the normal people, they'll be affected, but there are systems set up to advise the local community leaders if something like that's happened to keep the people from panicking in that case. Atop that, the Army missile regiments on land and whatever submarines aren't tasked to take us out won't be touched. They'll be in a perfect position to guard the country in case the Americans or the Russians try to take advantage of it. And then you factor in all the other Commonwealth states."

"World War Three," Hiromi mused.

"Hai, Sempai."

"So how can we stop those missiles from firing?" Noriko asked.

"We have to make the missile submarines show themselves, Miss Nakagawa," Bethell answered. "Tracking them by the heat put out by their reactors and other systems will be very hard, unless they're at periscope depth; the thermocline will keep them shielded even from OUR sensors. We have to make them get up to use their VLF systems to track them down, and then we can drop concussion missiles on them to sink them before they even realise they're in danger of being crushed under the impact. Standard bauximite warheads to produce no radiation even if the blast power will be the equal of a ten-KT tactical nuclear warhead, so no one else would be hurt but the target."

"And whatever fish are in range," Madden added with a chuckle.

"Just like the old Limbo mortars on the steamers," Beaulieu added.

The other Canadians in the room laughed on hearing that reference to the anti-submarine mortar system that had been fitted to destroyer escorts of the Saint-Laurent, Restigouche, Mackenzie and Annapolis classes in the 1950s and 1960s, but were eventually rendered obsolete thanks to the advances in nuclear submarine design and long-range torpedo technology that made the use of the Limbo A/S Mark 10 three-barrel mortar system, which could reach out only to about a thousand metres, useless . . . save for killing a lot of fish from the explosive shock of the depth charge going off. "What about the ELF system to contact the submarines?" Satomi asked.

"If you can find the ELF transmitter the Republic uses, Satomi, that's great," Bethell then stated. "Knock it out first and the submarines are totally cut off from central contact. That might actually force them to come up and send out VLF signals to find out what the devil's going on from Navy Headquarters. If they do that, we can find them and then sink them."

"There's another way to do this."

"What is that, Shinji-san?" Hiromi asked.

"We find out where the next _Program_ episode is going to be held tomorrow morning and move the _Freedom_ right over the site, acting as if we're about to rescue the kids that are going to be made to play," Shinji explained. "That makes the guys in the Navy and Interior Security panic. They send out an ELF message to the subs to get them up to receive VLF instructions to re-aim the missiles on the _Freedom_. We hear the ELF message go out, then knock the transmitter out of commission. If we're fast enough, the subs don't get the message, thus they might assume all's well and not come up for further instructions. If we're not fast enough and they get part of a message, they'll probably come up for instructions or clarifications. If they don't come up, they don't hurt us. If they do, we can take them out. But I doubt we'll have to do anything at all since they'll need time to absorb the instructions being pumped out from Tōkyō, then re-program the missiles.

"_**At the same time this is happening**_, Mizuho-chan is using the Staff to fry out the brains of the idiots in government that like to keep _The Program_ running . . . " Shinji added with a wink, " . . . which means that a lot of people in Tōkyō are going to be either dead, in a coma or running around panicking, trying to figure out what to do since the whole central government of the Republic is going to be in a total shambles once we get done with them. Which is what we ALSO want. And once we get the kids saved, we pull _Freedom_ out of SLBM and ICBM range and let things on the ground settle down enough for folks like my aunt to get people who survive the Staff to take over. And once the sub commanders have new bosses to answer to, they'll be obliged to obey orders. I don't think missile submarine commanders are going to go crazy and launch anyway."

"But if they do, we're in a position to stop them," Bethell noted.

"Right!"

Hiromi hummed, and then she gazed on Noriko. The younger girl blushed, and then she sighed. "I don't want to hurt people who are just doing their jobs, Sempai."

The reborn emperor nodded. "Neither do I, Noriko-san. Shinji-san!"

"Yo!"

"Find that school class that will be made to participate in the next episode!" she instructed as she pulled up her communicator to gaze on the screen. "Right now, it's 5:21 in the afternoon in Tōkyō. The poor 'players' soon to be asked to kill or be kill will no doubt be in the hands of the Internal Security people at this time as they move to transport them to the 'filming site,' then prepare them for tomorrow morning's 'homeroom' class. So there will be increased computer traffic between Tōkyō and the new episode 'filming location.' Find it!"

"On it, Sempai!"

* * *

Elsewhere . . .

Her name was Niimi Rena.

She was a member of Class 3-B of Shikanotoride Junior High School, a very popular private school located in the Shinkogakura section of the city of Nagasaki, well south of the downtown area of one of Kyūshū's main port cities.

She was a popular member of her homeroom class - especially with the boys - thanks, ironically, to her suffering from asthma, which forced her to speak in a voice that sounded a lot like many female anime characters in the comedy series that often appeared from time to time on DHK. And while she had to bathe a lot because of her troubles with her lungs, she wasn't seen as weird or abnormal, not unlike Hata Ryōko (an introvert and would-be fantasy writer) or Fukuda Kazumi (leader of the class's small group of delinquents, who always wore outrageous amounts of makeup and dressed in clothes that just made people stare at her). While there were the troublemakers, the delinquents and a boy gang group calling themselves the _Schwarz Katze_ - German for "black cat" - that often picked on others they perceived as weak in her class, Rena personally didn't hate anyone she went to school with. Thinking of the boys who were part of the _Katze_ - Kurosawa Ryō, Shimura Tetsuya, Jō Naoki, Nanami Jun and Maezono Kenji - Rena often thought it was odd that a _Japanese_ boy gang would use a _German_ name to identify themselves as a group. After all, it was the Nazis that had destroyed Tōkyō and killed the last Emperor of old Japan and his family back in 1945. Weren't the Germans bad people . . .?

Rena had never got the courage to ask Ryō or any of his friends why they did that . . .

_Why can't I breathe . . .?_

"Be careful with this one."

_Asthma attack . . . need to get to my purse . . ._

"This is Girl Number Eleven, Niimi Rena. She suffers from asthma. Give her a cortisone injection, then make sure the anaesthetic has taken hold."

_Cortisone . . . I hate that stuff . . .!_

_ Wait . . ._

_ Anaesthetic . . .?_

_ Why do I need an _anaesthetic_ . . .?_

_ We're supposed to be on a camping trip . . .!_

"Got the dosage, Sergeant."

"Get it in her! We're on a schedule here!"

"Hai!"

_What's going on . . .?_

"We won't be accused of failing our duty! Not like those idiots that were involved in that stupid fiasco on Oki-shima!"

Rena tried to open her eyes as she felt something jab into her arm.

_Oki-shima . . .?_

Wait!

_Wasn't that . . .?_

It hit her as the fatigue started to overwhelm her.

_Oh, no! They're taking us for _The Program_ . . .!_

"She's going under, Sergeant . . . "

"Good! Check on the others!"

"Hai!"

_No . . ._

_ Please, no . . ._

_ Why me . . .?_

_ I DON'T WANT TO DIE!_

* * *

And aboard a Canadian starship from another dimension . . .

"You will not, beautiful Rina! This I vow! You will NOT die . . .!"

Shuddering as the images that had been fed into her mind replayed themselves, Mizuho took a deep breath before she gazed on the glowing bulb of the weapon she had seized ten months before from someone who had been truly unworthy of the Staff of Gihan and its divine power, her eyes tearing. "Thank you . . .!" she whispered before surging to her feet, and then she walked to the work table of the small cabin she had been given for her own use when she came aboard _Haida_ days before, reaching over to tap a control to activate the communicator unit. "Inada to Mimura. Shinji, my friend, are you there?"

"Yo, Mizuho-chan! What's up?" Shinji called back from _Freedom_.

"I know the next school and class that's been targeted."

Silence.

"_**WHERE?**_" Satomi screamed out.

"Shikanotoride Junior High School, Class 3-B. It's a school in Nagasaki, friend Satomi! With swiftness, my friends! They've been captured already!"

"Nagasaki, huh?" Shinji asked, and then he laughed. "Okay! Now I can find out if there's been an island evacuation order given by the police! Once I find that, we've got the 'filming location!' Thanks, Mizuho-chan! Loads of kisses coming your way!"

"From all of us!" Satomi added with a laugh.

"I will accept them with due humility, my friends," Mizuho said. "Now I need to rest a bit, then I will come over to join you. Please . . . be swift, I beg you!"

"I overheard you, Mizuho-san!" Hiromi then cut in. "I'll have Onē-sama look in on you. You relax and wait for her. You'll be needed in the morning, my friend."

A tired nod. "As you command, oh Emperor . . . as you command . . . "

* * *

_Freedom_, the bridge . . .

"So if it's a school in Nagasaki, where would they go?"

"Loads of places, Takako-chan!" Shinji said as his fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him as others streamed onto the bridge, including Moroboshi Hiromi. "Usually when it comes to episodes of _The Program_, the place where they do the fighting is normally in the same prefecture as the school where the 'players' are taken from. Ensures they'll be transported to the site as quickly as possible. Nagasaki-ken's got loads of islands to choose from . . . wait a minute!"

"What?" Shūya demanded.

The basketball player blinked as he looked at the information flashing before his screen. "Okay, we've got a message from the commander of the NADA in Nagasaki to the prefecture governor," he said. "Island evacuation for special defence project - that's the code-phrase _The Program_ producers use to disguise what's going to happen there; it's not much of a disguise, of course - already being carried out . . . "

"Where, Shinji? Can't you find it?" Hirono demanded.

"Just a sec', Hirono-chan! I don't want to force the computers down on the ground to work too fast; people might be watching out . . .!" He then smirked. "Got it! It's Taka-shima!" He then moved to pull himself out of the Internal Security Ministry computer system, taking his time. "Satomi-chan, can you bring it up?"

"Just a second," Satomi said as she tapped controls at her station.

"What about one of those Hō'ō satellites?" Mitsuko asked.

"One moment." Hiromi pulled out her communicator. "Moroboshi to _Haida_."

"_Haida_, Beaulieu here, Director."

"My dear Chief, are any of the Republic's spy satellites close to us now?"

"Wait one, Director," the coxswain called back. A moment later, he came back on line, "The next satellite pass close to you will be in about ten minutes, ma'am."

"Too bad," Satomi said with a laugh. "Here it is, everyone!"

People gazed onto the main view screen. "Small island. Even smaller than the one we were on," Shūya mused on noting the distance scale Satomi had added to the map that was now appearing there. "Not that much room to move around."

"They'll probably want this to be a total wipe-out, Shū," Shinji warned. As the others gazed on him, the basketball player added, "No one survives."

People in the room shivered on hearing his explanation. In the last five decades, there _had_ been times when whole classes had been killed off thanks to multiple people being alive and well at the end of the three-day "game" period set aside for each "episode" of _The Program_. A mass use of the tracking collars given to all "players" guaranteed that. "Well, too bad for them that we're about to forever cancel the series," Mitsuko said. "Okay, let's pass it on upstairs to everyone else!" she then instructed the others on the bridge. "Get a room cleaned up for Mizuho once Sempai's sister brings her here. She'll probably be on the bridge, but she also needs a cabin to use. We need all the good thoughts you can generate to boost the Staff's power so we can make it a clean sweep when we crash homeroom class tomorrow morning! Let's go!"

Everyone howled their approval as they moved . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	21. And On A Pale Horse Rode Death

Tōkyō, the Ministry of Interior Security . . .

"So . . . so far, there has been no movement, correct?"

"Hai," Anjō Gō said as he and Sanada Mikiya stood before the desk of Tsugawa Masahiko. "The Hō'ō units made passes of the vessel sometime ago. Again, we only got images of either _Program_ participants - if they _are_ them, of course - or that strange woman in the T-shirt and blue jeans that was discovered some hours ago on the bridge of that ship with Nakagawa and the others from Shiroiwa Junior High School." He tried not to make a face on thinking of a Japanese girl dressing so decadently. "No others."

"Any idea who that woman might be?" the minister asked.

Sanada shook his head. "We have no idea. There's no record of such a woman anywhere in the biometrics files of the Ministry, much less any local police office. The Intelligence Bureau is still investigating the possibility that this person might be a foreign national whose ancestors arose in Japan. Also, there is the possibility that she may be either Chinese or Korean. The people at the Bureau have already passed on her picture to the Ministry of State Security in Běijīng and the Office of National Security Planning in Sŏul. We will have to wait for results from both countries, especially China given their current population problems." He then smiled. "The good news is that the Navy Ministry is preparing to order four of our missile submarines now on patrol near the Carolina Islands to reprogram their Kairyū missiles to attack the alien ship: the _Mutsu_, the _Izu_, the _Ō__mi_ and the _Satsuma_. The ELF transmission to order the submarines to periscope depth to receive their attack instructions via VLF will be transmitted out within the next twenty minutes once it's properly encoded to be sent out to make sure they receive it as soon as possible." He took a deep breath. "As you know, given that ship's proximity to Tōkyō, once the missiles hit . . . "

"Electro-magnetic pulse," the minister finished for the former submariner. "You need not remind me of that, Sanada-san. Have the applicable defence agencies been alerted to this so they can make the proper preparations?"

"Hai," Sanada replied. "Lieutenant Takahashi is on his way down to Sasebo right now; he should arrive there by 2100 hours today, then deploy as soon as possible with a coastal patrol squadron to act as outer cover for the 68th Division personnel that will be on duty in and around Taka-shima. They'll be on scene well before first light."

"We're also keeping a close eye on all known dissidents to see if any of them have been travelling to the area around Nagasaki," Anjō added. "We still haven't traced down whoever it was that helped Nanahara and Nakagawa escape the country, so there may be breaches in the wall we're trying to erect around this particular event."

"The orders are still the same, are they not?" Tsugawa asked.

"Hai. If at all possible, all participants from Shikanotoride will not survive this event. However, as per the usual standards for Experiment Program 68, if there is a clear winner to come out of the current event, he or she will be allowed to survive."

A nod. "Yes . . . yes. We must get things back to normal again, especially after last week's fiasco," the minister muttered. He had been the one who had to ultimately answer for what happened on Oki-shima to the Central Committee, the group of senior government ministers who served as the ruling elite of the Republic and elected the Senior Chairman, the modern-day shōgun of their country who ruled in the name of the long-dead Son of Heaven until the day a future emperor could arise and everything would be restored back to the way it was in 1945. And with a much stronger and more vital Japan to follow that new Child of the Gods than the late Shōwa Emperor could ever have imagined. And while Tsugawa had been heavily chastised by Senior Chairman Mori for the Oki-shima incident and what had gone wrong there - several large bets between the members of the Central Committee had to be paid off by Tsugawa given the rather mixed result where TWO children had survived that particular event! - it hadn't put his position as the man in charge of maintaining peace and order in the Republic ultimately in jeopardy. "I'll be pleased to report same to the Committee when we meet tomorrow. Anyhow, is there anything else I need to know before we close business today?"

"Actually, one thing, sir," Sanada stated.

"Being?"

"Well, this may not be so important in the long term, but people here, at the Navy Ministry, the Intelligence Bureau and at the Space Ministry have been pouring over the pictures that have been taken of the alien ship, especially the bridge structure where we spotted the supposedly 'late' players from Event 56-30. They've come up with some theories as to how this ship is being controlled." The former submariner sighed. "Again, this may not be vital, but I believe it may be important."

"Go on, Sanada-san," the minister bade.

"We believe there is a bit of a social hierarchy aboard that ship now," Sanada explained. "While there appears to be something of a standard military naval watch system on that ship - where people work in shifts to allow time for rest and relaxation off-duty - there seems to be the same faces in general charge of the whole operation." As Tsugawa nodded, the lieutenant-commander added, "In effect, a sort of 'planning committee' . . . or a group of senior 'officers' to which all others would respond to. And strange as this will sound, the members of the planning committee are none other than Nakagawa Noriko, Sōma Mitsuko, Shimizu Hirono, Chigusa Takako and Noda Satomi. All from Event 56-30 the weekend just past." As the others in the room blinked, Sanada stated, "It is quite odd, but this whole situation in quite odd. If those girls were of an event that happened no more than six days ago, why on Earth would they - the _**last**_ group to be involved in an event - be in charge of a ship full of people who were made to play in _The Program_ all the way back from Year Three?"

"That is strange," Anjō mused.

"Yes," Sanada stated. "Given the elements of science fiction we've been very much leaning on to theorise what has been happening here, I sought out friends and co-workers who are fans of such television shows and movies. One person - Lieutenant Yokoyama - is a fan of the American show _Star Trek_. You're familiar with it?"

"Yes. A quite delightful show, almost visionary in many aspects," Tsugawa stated, and then he wryly added, "For an _American_ production. Go on."

"He came up with something that might explain why the chronologically _latest_ group of event players came to _command_ such a large group of people," Sanada stated, and then he looked apologetic. "Again, this is another wild theory . . . "

"What is it, Sanada-san?" the minister bade.

"Time travel."

Silence.

"What?" Anjō demanded.

The former submariner looked contrite. "I did warn you . . . "

The Army officer blinked, and then he sighed. "Well, we're dealing with alien technology - which could include faster-than-light speed travel capabilities - so why _not_ time travel?" he then chided himself. "So what are you saying, Sanada-kun?"

"What I'm proposing here is that whoever actually engineered this process - and it might be this mystery woman we saw on the bridge of this ship - may have started from the _latest_ group of players, then gone back in time to bring in all the others, eventually winding up with the first group from Event 3-1. This may also explain why is it the deaths of all the winners and those who escaped their events and fled to other countries all wound up dead and we didn't notice it until now."

Tsugawa slowly nodded. "They were moving in a way that would not disturb the flow of history, you mean," he stated, and then hummed as he considered that further before adding, "We all understand the concept of time paradoxes; science fiction writers worldwide have theorised about that for years!" He then hummed. "So - if your theory is correct, Sanada-san - the first ones rescued were the players in Event 56-30. They then decided that it wouldn't be 'fair' for them to have 'survived' and not helped all the previous event players survive too. But in understanding the potential problems a time paradox might unleash, they moved with stealth to ensure no one else would take notice of what happened, thus alter history. Used some sort of power to make the relatives of the winners never think of why their children would die." A shrug. "Most likely, they were hypnotised into believing that the winners were overwhelmed by guilt and allowed themselves to die, so they elected not to make a spectacle of such events."

"And with the players in Event 56-30 rescuing all the others . . . " Anjō cut in before his eyes went wide. "They're building an ARMY!" he breathed out.

"Possibly," Sanada stated. "And it will be in their eyes - to borrow the Korean term for it - a truly 'righteous army' against what they would perceive as monsters who have betrayed them and sent them forth to die without reason." He then took a deep breath. "But I believe there is a simpler reason than doing something so militarily sound." A pause, and then he asked, "Isn't there a saying in the West which goes like this: 'Living well is the best revenge of all?'"

"They're doing this to spite us, you mean?" Tsugawa wondered.

"No, something more. They have a ship with obviously high technology, perhaps far more advanced than we could ever imagine. And all those countries who have long complained about _The Program_ have always made it clear that anyone who escapes to their shores are welcome to live there. So why not do this: Make sure all those who played in _The Program_ survived - some sort of cloning technology beyond whatever soul-transference technology was used to save them from death - and then PRESENT that technology to our enemies and possible enemies?" As the other two men in the room paled on hearing that, Sanada breathed out, "All our advantages would be rendered totally naught in the long term. And that would be the most terrible revenge of all. While we languish behind, America, Europe, Russia and everyone else plunges ahead to levels we could never hope to achieve with simple hard work and diligence. Our strategic forces? Rendered totally impotent. Our technological progress? Rendered totally _obsolete_!"

"So what do you propose we do?" Anjō asked.

A smirk. "We must remember that in the end, they are _children_, Gō-kun," he stated. "Yes, they experienced something quite profound that forced them to grow up, but their hearts and souls haven't had the realistic chance to catch up with their knowledge. We can USE that! And since we have a situation where the chronologically LATEST group of players is actually in COMMAND of that ship, we can make use of . . . "

"Their relatives!" Tsugawa hissed out.

A nod. "Hai."

The minister nodded. "Have them rounded up. All the parents, not to mention the legal guardians of what orphans were players in Event 56-30, Sanada-kun. Bring them somewhere where . . . " He paused. "No! Bring them to Taka-shima! Have them fitted with the Number 22 collars and place them in another classroom at the school building. Then order the Space Ministry to find some way of contacting that ship! We'll MAKE them surrender that ship if they don't want to see their parents die!"

A deep bow. "Hai!"

* * *

The _Freedom_ . . .

"How's she doing?"

Sugimura Hiroki took a deep breath. "She's meditating now. Negako-sama was able to teach her some calming exercises to allow her to better link her mind into the Staff so that she could focus its power better. And with the Staff now here with everyone that it has saved over the last ten months, its power is increasing quite quickly. I may not have your type of ki senses, Ryback-sensei, but I can feel it very much. We should be ready to move by first light over Japan." Everyone was now standing on the bridge of the battlewagon, with Inada Mizuho seated in the captain's chair that was normally occupied by Nakagawa Noriko, the Staff of Gihan in her hand and the crystal glowing quite brightly as it drew in energy from all around it so that it could fully recharge itself and prepare for what it was about to unleash in a little over twelve hours. Casey Ryback was there as the next pass by one of the Republic's satellites was still a half-hour away. "I just hope this goes well in the end . . . "

"You need not fret, Hiroki-kun."

Hiroki turned away from Ryback to gaze on Morokuzu Ryōko. "What do you mean, Ryōko-san?" the kung fu practitioner then wondered.

"The Heavens are on your side," the young temple maiden stated as she gazed up on the older boy. "Your classmates won their favour when you showed you were not willing to impose your will on those you had no conflict with. You continue to hold their favour by wishing, even now, that what you plan to unleash in the morrow will not hurt more than it has to . . . and that such will not unleash a holocaust on those who either truly do not deserve such a dark fate or who have been beaten down both in their hearts and their bodies so badly to raise even a token resistance to your enemies. And you wish only to live in peace and harmony with those who will soon welcome you into their homeland and hearts." A nod. "You will be victorious in your campaign, Sugimura Hiroki. And while there will be deaths, there will be no widespread destruction and those who survive will not be affected save for the healthy fear for their own futures which will spur them onward towards better things, for themselves and their nation."

A sigh. "I pray you're right . . . "

"ELF signal!"

Noriko spun around. "Where from, Satomi-san?"

"China! Somewhere in Inner Mongolia! Getting the exact location now!" Noda Satomi said as she tapped controls, and then she smirked. "Got it! It's a location south of the urban part of Hǎilā'ěr! Feeding coordinates to the weapons systems!"

"Yoshio!" Mimura Shinji said as he tapped a control to open up a signal to the main weapons control room deep in the hull. "We're feeding you missile coordinates to a place that's sending a warning signal to the missile subs! We need you to take it out as quick as you can! If you don't, we'll be eating Kairyū missiles pretty soon!"

"Hai!" Akamatsu Yoshio called back. "Arming air-to-surface missiles!"

"Try not to blow up too much, big guy!"

"Understood!" the gentle giant said, and then there was a pause before he declared, "Alright, target has been fed into the computer and missile is programmed!"

"Fire the missile, Yoshio-kun!" Noriko called out.

"Hai, Noriko-san! Firing!"

* * *

Tōkyō, the Ministry of Internal Security, ten minutes later . . .

"WHAT?"

Both Tsugawa and Anjō watched as Sanada turned nearly white as he heard the report from the Navy Ministry. After a moment, the commander then slowly nodded. "Hai. I understand. I'll report same to the minister. Is there any other way . . .?" He paused again as he listened to the other person's report, and then he nodded. "Hai. If there are any messages from any of the submarines, please pass them on."

With that, he hung up the phone. "What happened?" the minister demanded.

"The Kairōji ELF transmitter site was destroyed, Minister."

Anjō paled. "You mean . . .?"

"Hai, Anjō-kun," Sanada affirmed with a nod. "As of now, we will have _no_ way of communicating with any of the missile submarines currently at sea and submerged below the depths any VLF transmission unit anywhere in the Republic can reach," Sanada then explained. "They were only able to get out part of the first code group - about seven characters altogether - of the message to rise to periscope depth to raise their VLF antennas to receive detailed instructions concerning the launch of their weapons."

"What did go out?" Tsugawa demanded.

"Not enough to make the captains believe that something has happened and they have to get to a shallower depth to call in to learn what's going on, Minister," Sanada stated, and then he moved to explain matters further, "To ensure that our missile submarines can't be tricked into revealing themselves to enemy forces, all captains are instructed to ignore any ELF message that doesn't contain the first ten characters of the signal. They contain a script that will make the receivers understand that the message is genuine. Without those last three characters in the verification part of the message, any captain will automatically refuse to believe that we were truthfully trying to contact them. Each captain has the authority to always consider interrupted messages on any frequency, even ELF, to be potential tricks. If any one of them decided to come up and ask what was going on, said fellow would be facing a court-martial."

The minister closed his eyes. "Damn . . .!"

"Then we switch the plan!"

Eyes locked on Anjō. "What do you mean?" Sanada asked.

"We still have submarines in port, don't we?" the major wondered. "So instead of using the submarines to attack the alien ship, we use the land-based Sanryū ballistic missiles . . . " - he was referring to the Mountain Dragon ICBM system that was a close version of the American LGM-118 Peacekeeper system - " . . . then let the submarines go forth and shield us in case the Russians and the Americans try to do anything. After all, our submarines have receivers attuned to the both their ELF transmission systems so they would sense it if something might be happening." He then turned to point to a map of the Home Islands. "We contact Nakagawa and inform her that we are holding the parents and other guardians of her class hostage. We even tell them that they're being held in Taka-shima, with the collars on them to kill them if required. If she doesn't surrender the ship to us - even more so, she decides to move down to make a rescue - we then wait for her to start shifting her ship down towards Kyūshū, then strike with ballistic missiles launched from Hokkaidō. The EMP burst will be localised to areas with less dense habitation and we still succeed in killing off all those who've defied us. And Event 56-31 proceeds ahead as scheduled."

Sanada nodded. "It might work."

"Report to me when we have all of them in custody," Tsugawa then said.

The commander and the major bowed. "Hai!"

* * *

The _Freedom_ . . .

"So do you think the Chinese might get mad?" Nanahara Shūya asked.

Shinji shook his head as he gazed on the image of the destroyed ELF transmitter site, which had been a simple set of buildings located thirty kilometres south of the urban part of Hǎilā'ěr. Now, it was a hole in the ground about fifty metres across and twenty deep; Yoshio had used a simple high explosive yield similar to a 2000 kilogram smart-bomb. "Nah, Shū. If there were anyone there, they'd just be Navy guys who were there to maintain the equipment. I doubt this would've been contracted out to locals. The Chinese don't have much in the way of missile submarines; all they have when it comes to the big-bang stuff are bombs dropped from airplanes and land-based ballistic missiles. They like it better that way since they can keep them all aimed at Russia."

"So they can't talk to their subs anymore, right?" Hirono asked.

"Doubtful," Kazuo noted. "Satomi, did you manage to learn how many characters were put out through that message before we destroyed the transmitter?"

Satomi turned to her station and tapped controls as she waited for the message to come up. "Only seven characters . . . but I have no idea what they say."

"Then we are safe, at least from the Navy," Kazuo stated. "Missile submarine commanders are trained to be wary of possible false messages being transmitted by either the Americans or the Russians to make them reveal themselves so they can be destroyed before they could attack either country. They need to hear a code of TEN characters - again, this was from something my father had spoken of to his friends - in the proper code to consider it a genuine message from Navy Headquarters."

"So they'll think it's just a bluff to make them do something stupid," Shinji mused.

"Which they won't bite on," Takako added.

"Indeed."

"What do we do now?"

Eyes turned to gaze on Kusaka Yumiko. One of the early victims of the episode of _The Program_ involving the people of Shiroiwa Junior High School Class 3-B, she was also the first of the _Program_ participants to discover the wonderful joys of bond-mating, which she had done with her childhood friend Kitano Yukiko almost a month after they had been brought aboard the bioroid factory. Given how the couple had fallen during _The Program_, both were seen among their peers and the other survivors as living moral compasses to remind the others about what they were doing and where they wanted to go with their lives. And while they had also been haunted by the fear that they would never find a new home in the dimension where they had been reborn - just like almost everyone else that had been rescued from _The Program_ - both Yumiko and Yukiko did often find themselves listening more and more to Mizuho's pleas to go forth and contact Moroboshi Hiromi directly to gain the reborn emperor's assistance in giving them a new place to live. "What do you mean by that, Yumi?" Mitsuko asked.

"I mean, what do we do now that we know where the next class is going to be forced to fight?" Yumiko asked. "Why don't we simply just get them out of there right now, Mitsuko? There's no need to wait until morning to do this!"

"There is merit to what Yumiko just suggested," Satomi noted after considering it for a moment. "We can't do anything with the Staff until tomorrow morning anyway since it doesn't have enough power to do what we want at this time."

"It would be smart to keep the plan simple," Shinji mused in agreement. "Less things to worry about in the morning. We're so nervous about this now . . . "

"We can screw it up if we're not careful, you mean. We want this over with, so we'll be too psyched up to sleep much tonight," Shūya finished.

"You got it, Shū."

The others on the bridge nodded. "Any counter-arguments?" Noriko then asked.

"A suggestion, Noriko: We must do it in a way that will not cause our soon-to-come friends more harm than necessary," Kazuo calmly stated. "That would require the materialisers from _Haida_, _Arizona_ or _Yamato_. The teleportation systems on this ship regretfully do not possess anything close to the tight precision we would need to snare them and get them away from their captors without hurting them."

"And there's the safety systems in the materialisers to strip anyone of any weapon before they're brought aboard," Minami Kaori added. "The people on _Haida_ used that to disarm the Klingons from Lursa's ship before they beamed them into the brig. We can use that to take the collars off them as we're pulling them away."

"AND then allow the collars to blow up when we leave them behind!" Etō Megumi added. "That would be a pretty rude way of telling those creeps to go shove it somewhere where it hurts!" She then blushed as Mitsuko laughed, then kissed her.

"We should do it quickly."

Eyes locked on Yukiko. "What do you mean, Yuki?" Hirono asked.

"Look at Mizuho-chan, Hirono. I mean, really LOOK at her!"

People then gazed on the woman in the captain's chair. "Hey! She's cryin'!" Numai Mitsuru said as he walked over to kneel down and gaze into the sleeping woman's face, and then he reached into his pocket to draw out a handkerchief.

"Let me do that, Mitsuru."

He paused, and then nodded as he handed the cloth over to Hiroki. The kung fu fighter moved to kneel beside the unmoving Mizuho, and then he gently drew the cloth over her cheeks. "She seems terrified of something," he whispered, though he suspected that if he had spoken in a normal voice, she wouldn't react to it.

"No . . . "

Eyes locked on Sakaki Yūko, who was now staring wide-eyed at the woman who had, in effect, saved them all. "Yūko-chan . . .?" Shūya whispered as Hiroki handed the handkerchief back to Mitsuru.

She shook her head. "Oh, God . . . I think . . . "

"What?" Satomi urged.

Yūko paused, and then she said, "She's had her 'time of the month.'"

Silence.

"You mean . . .?" Yumiko began before she exchanged shocked looks with Yukiko.

"She's found the one she wants as her bond-mate," Yūko finished.

Everyone looked surprised on hearing that. "Who could it be, then?" Noriko asked.

"Maybe the person she sensed when she found out which class was going to be made to play in _The Program_," Shinji then proposed. "She didn't say a name, though . . . "

"What is the problem, my friends?"

People turned up as the lift into the bridge came down. "Sempai!" Noriko gasped as Hiromi got off the lift and walked over to join them.

"Mizuho's fallen in love, Sempai," Niida Kazushi explained.

The reborn emperor blinked. "Oh?" she asked before she turned to gaze down on the unmoving Mizuho. "Who is the fortunate person to be so blessed, Kazushi-san?"

"We don't know, Sempai," Hiroki explained, and then he took a deep breath as he stared down at Mizuho. "But we believe it might be one of the girls from Shikanotoride Junior High that're gonna be in 'homeroom' tomorrow morning on Take-shima."

Hiromi nodded, and then she blinked as a remote memory came up from deep inside her mind. "Wait! What was the name of that school again?"

"Shikanotoride Junior High School," Shinji provided. "A school in Nagasaki."

More silence.

"Oh, my . . . isn't _that _ironic?"

"What?" everyone around her demanded.

A sigh. "Atop there being the novel by Takami-sensei on your adventures - which inspired the manga series that I am familiar with - there were also a _movie_ made based on the novel . . . as well as a SEQUEL movie that followed a few years later!" Hiromi said, a smirk crossing her face. "In that sequel, a class from _Shikanotoride_ Junior High School was forced through a modified version of _The Program_."

Megumi gaped. "So you're saying the kids there might be the same . . .?"

"As the characters from the second film," Hiromi finished. "Let's prove it." She then cleared her throat. "Asakura-san?" she called out in as clear of a voice as she could make without shouting. "Asakura Nao-san? Are you there?"

Everyone looked. "Nothin', Sempai," Mitsuru advised.

"Alright, then," Hiromi said before calling out, "Ikeda-san? Ikeda Miki-san? Are you here?"

They looked again. "Still nothing," Kazushi reported.

"Kakei-san? Kakei Kyōko-san?"

People shook their heads. "Not her," Shūya stated.

Hiromi sighed. "She's making it difficult," she hissed before considering it for a moment, and then she snapped her fingers. "Niimi-san? Niimi Rena-san?"

"_**RENA!**_"

Everyone nearly jumped out of their chairs and clothes on hearing that shout from the would-be warrior-priestess, who had bolted to her feet and was looking wildly around. "I think you hit the jackpot that time, Sempai!" Shinji said.

The others in the room blinked, and then they laughed, which made a now-fully conscious Mizuho blink. "What is causing such mirth within you all?" she asked.

The laughter increased . . .

* * *

The _Yamato_ . . .

"_**I'M BORED!**_"

Everyone winced on hearing that shout, and then they all turned to stare at a huffing school leader from Nan'yō. The small group of tōshi - there had been a hundred from each of the Seven Schools, with about a third of that number from affiliate schools like Nanban - that had boarded the Japanese starship to help find their reborn emperor on _Haida_ were now in one of the main cafeterias. "Man, girl! What's with you?" Futoshi Itsuku asked.

"I'm BORED, Shigi-san!" Mago Tsueko snapped before she started to pout, which made those of her schoolmates from Chiba-ken all either moan in embarrassment or shake their heads in frustration over their leader's antics. "It was bad enough that when we found Kōtchi, we didn't get the chance to beat up any Klingons! Now that we're here to help those kids start a new life back home, why aren't we down there beating the crap out of all those creeps that run this stupid _Program_ they went through . . . ITTE!"

_That_ was courtesy of an elbow driven into the top of the sophomore's head thanks to one twitching Sebone Mimōko. "Baka! Will you learn to CALM DOWN finally?" the raven-haired senior snarled. "They've got a good plan and it will work, Sonsaku! We don't need to go in there and bugger it up for them, alright? Settle down!"

"But is it a _good_ plan, Shimei?"

People turned to look at the man standing at the window gazing out at the distant bright light that was the _Freedom_. "What do you mean, Chūei?" Mimōko asked.

Tadasu Suguta smirked as he gazed at the others. Staring at the leader of Rakuyō now, many of the tōshi in the cafeteria were still struck a little odd by the fact that his face was no longer covered by the many bandages he had sported over the last couple of years thanks to a brutal self-mutilating habit he took to keep the dark demon - not one of the haoryū that were fused to the souls of people like Tsueko and Mimōko, but a vengeful battle-spirit that was forced into the heart of the soul of Dǒng Zhuó centuries before by the Qiāng tribe when he had served as the provincial "shepherd" in Bīngzhōu - haunting his life at bay. Now that said spirit had been forcefully exorcised out of his soul thanks to Moroboshi Negako, the Rakuyō senior had calmed down considerably, regaining such control over himself that he was on the verge of passing the upcoming Centre Test for university admissions with flying colours. It had also done his relationship with one Uru Hokona (Kaku Bunwa) a world of good; while not formally engaged, they were living together and preparing for a future together.

"Put yourself in the position of any of the leaders of the Republic," he then suggested. "Yesterday, they got the shock of their lives. Here's this _alien starship_ in orbit over their capital city. Within a short while, their recon satellites discovered that the ship was inhabited by people they all believed were dead from a 'program' they had been running non-stop for the last fifty-three years. How would YOU react if you were in charge of the Republic and confronting this?"

Mimōko blinked, and then she crossed her arms. "Pretty scared."

"But also very curious as to what's going on . . . AND possibly also considering ways to take advantage of something like that."

Eyes locked on Hokona. "What do you mean, Bunwa-san?" Koro Sonami asked.

"Think, Ryūbi!" the master strategist of Rakuyō stated. "Here's a ship, obviously possessing great levels of technology! And it's populated by a whole bunch of young TEENAGERS! Almost all of whom are supposed to be DEAD!" As the others in the room all nodded, she then turned to point out the window. "And even more so, the LATEST group that just participated in _The Program_ are the people IN CHARGE!"

"Holy shit! It would be the perfect crime!"

Eyes locked on Noberu Miyako (Chinkyū Kōdai), who was sitting to one side of one Moroboshi Ataru, with her beloved leader and lover Sebone Shikuko (Ryofu Hōsen) on Ataru's other side. "So they'd move to steal the thing, right?" Ataru asked.

"No, Ataru-kun! They'd move to do anything to make the kids SURRENDER the ship!" the Rakuyō-turned-Tomobiki sophomore stated. "And do it in such a way that would allow them to seize control of the technology and put it to use before the other nations of Earth woke up and moved to stop them! The best way of doing that . . . "

Sonami gasped. "Kidnap their relatives!"

"Gentoku, they don't really care for their relatives," Seki Haneko stated. "They feel betrayed by them! Why on Earth would they give in to such demands concerning people they would rather not want to see again?"

"Kan-san!" the leader of Seito snapped. "Even if they're angry at them for not having done something to stop _The Program_ before they got sucked into it, there are feelings they have for their parents. Especially those who know their relatives were willing to fight for what was right, like Shinji-kun's uncle and Shōgo-kun's father."

"Don't forget Shinji's aunt, too."

Eyes locked on Ataru. "That's right. You read the whole manga, didn't you?" Tsukasa Torusuke mused before he sipped the cup of sencha he had in his hand.

"Hai," the Terran onigokko champion breathed out.

"So what's happening now? With their relatives?" Koeru Kumomi demanded.

"Well, hopefully, Shinji's aunt - she's the one who arranged for Shūya and Noriko-chan to blow that place once and for all - hasn't been caught yet," he mused. "Noriko-chan's kid brother's in jail; the government had him incarcerated to try to make her turn herself in. Her mom practically disowned her because of that; Shinji's aunt arranged for a phone-call home after they got off the island and she gave poor Noriko-chan a face full of shit over what happened." A shake of the head. "Bitch."

"Yeah, there's one beggin' for a fuckin' curb-stompin'!" Natsukimi Makoto (Kakōton Genjō) snarled as he slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand.

"Damn straight about that, Ton!" Torusuke said with a snort.

"What about Shūya?" Haru Asumi asked.

"He's an orphan," Ataru reported. "He lived in an orphanage with his best buddy, Kuninobu Yoshitoki. They were watched over by a Catholic layperson, a very nice lady named Anno Ryōko. Supposedly, Kamon - he was the jerk that ran that particular episode - raped the poor woman after Shūya and Yoshitoki got taken to Oki-shima. Shūya later discovered that nothing had happened to her. Or so the manga implied at the end." He then sighed. "Besides, given the speed that Shūya and Noriko-chan got yanked out of the country - way different than what the final volume of the manga said; in that, they stayed in hiding for three months before they finally skipped town - the chances are there that if she's still alright and she was not raped, Ryōko-san might be at the Charity House."

"What of the relatives to the other 'players?'" Shikuko asked.

"Yoshitoki's an orphan, just like Shūya. Shōgo's pretty much an orphan, too; his dad got erased by the government and no one's ever said anything about his mom. I overheard Kazuo say he lost his mom in the accident that fucked up his brain, but his dad's still around; don't know if he remarried, but that's possible. Shinji's got his parents, aunt and a little sister named Ikumi; we all know what happened to his uncle. Toshinori's the son of a very wealthy family, no idea about other relatives. Shō's dad runs a gay bar for cross-dressers; don't know if the mother is still around or if she's even alive. Mitsuru has both parents, but they're a pair of alcoholics, so he wouldn't really care either which way about them. Kyōichi's the son of a government official; sure didn't help him get clear of _The Program_." As the others all ruefully chuckled, he then said, "As for Yoshio, Keita, Tatsumichi, Yōji, Hiroshi, Ryūhei, Hiroki, Yutaka, Yūichirō, Kazushi, Tadakatsu and Kazuhiko . . . I can't say anything."

"What about the girls?" Haneko asked.

"Mitsuko's got a dad, but we don't know if he's alive or dead. She erased both her mom and her stepdad with help from the Yakuza," Ataru stated. "Yukie is really close to her father; she does a lot to impress him. Don't know about her mother, though. Megumi's got parents and an older sister people like to say sleeps around a lot. Kayoko was born out of wedlock; her mother was her father's mistress, not his wife. Yūko has both her mom and dad; the novel also mentioned a brother. Hirono's pretty estranged from her parents because she's done drugs, minor larceny and the like; far as they're concerned, she's a total lost cause. Takako is said to physically take after her father; she also has a sister named Aya. Kaori has a sister; don't know about her parents. Izumi said she has a brother who's a BIG _Program_ fan. As for Mizuho, Sakura, Yukiko, Yumiko, Haruka, Mayumi, Yūka, Satomi, Fumiyo, Chisato and Yoshimi . . . again, I can't say anything."

"Basically, normal people," Makoto mused.

"Living in a dictatorship. And whose relatives would be quite taken aback to learn that their 'dead' relatives are actually alive and well."

Eyes locked on Kumomi. "What are you saying, Shiryū?" Haneko asked.

"Isn't it obvious, Unchō-san?" the silver-haired Seito sophomore asked. "If those people learn their sons and daughters are alive and well, they'll be happy to do ANYTHING to get them back. And I wouldn't put it past the leadership of the Republic to play up on that fact . . . even to people like Kyōichi-san's father, who might get suspicious at such a turn of attitude, especially since his position in government didn't save his son from _The Program_. And if there are - as Gentoku-san indicated - feelings for their relatives still in that group that commands that ship nearby . . . "

"That means there's a very big hole in their emotional armour," Torusuke finished.

"And the people down below will exploit it," Kumomi added, nodding in agreement.

"So what do we do?" Makoto wondered.

The leader of Kyoshō smirked. "No offense to your sister, Ataru, but she hasn't got our experience when it comes to anticipating problems coming after us or our allies," he stated. "In effect, what we have to do now to make sure none of those kids get hurt further . . . is head down to Shikoku and make sure their parents and other relatives don't end up being put into jail. Or worse . . . "

"Be made to participate in _The Program_ years after their time," Suguta added.

"Does that mean we can go down and beat 'em all up?"

Eyes locked on an expectantly-looking Tsueko, and then people laughed as a weary Mimōko shook her head at her school leader's antics . . .

* * *

Shiroiwa, the Charity House, fifteen minutes later . . .

_Oh, Lord! Forgive me for not being strong enough . . ._

Kneeling before her private altar in her bedroom, Anno Ryōko could only sniff back tears she had not stopped shedding for a week as her heart continued to break at the thought of two of her own charges having been subjected to the hungry meat-grinder that was so barbarically called _The Program_. Even if one of those self-same charges had actually escaped - and with a friend to boot! - from their event on nearby Oki-shima, it still hurt that both Shūya and poor Yoshitoki had been involved in that in the first place. Not to mention all of their friends from school . . .

Taking a deep breath, she pulled out her personal Bible from a nearby shelf and opened it to the Psalms as she sought out the right passage to try to find some understanding in this mad time. While she had not been physically harmed by Kamon Yonemi - as that horrible man had said to taunt Yoshitoki into being killed back in their "homeroom" class - the psychological and emotional torture of learning what was happening to Shūya and the others had been just as wounding to her. While the protests against _The Program_ had always been there in the Republic, the steady feeding of poor innocent souls into that deadly crucible had carried on without any sign of let-up. And for what? To create a country of "strong" people to stand against the monsters of the West who would gladly march in and destroy all that old Japan had once held sacred?

Didn't people UNDERSTAND?

Slowly chanting the prayer she had chosen, Ryōko tried not to break down and weep. She remembered the day years ago when she had graduated from middle school finally, moving on to high school and out of the "danger zone" of that part of life when participation in _The Program_ was all but a certainty. She remembered now with profound shame the party she and her friends had held shortly after starting their first year in high school. The "Escape from _The Program_ Party," it had been called. How they had all celebrated their not being picked for their "solemn duty" to kill or be killed . . . and how, Ryōko remembered now, none of them had ever raised a toast to all those of their peers who HAD died because of that monstrous abomination.

It was the painful guilt that she later came to feel from not remembering her fallen peers that made her ultimately accept Roman Catholicism shortly after she finally got out of school. And while it had been an act that would forever mark her as potentially dangerous in the eyes of the government, it had also given her solstice and a new strength to do anything to make sure those who were abandoned in the world would be strong enough to face the horrors of life in modern-day Japan. And despite a small part of her always warning her that _The Program_ was never far away, she had come to believe that those who did come under her charge would be safe.

Like Shūya . . .

Like Yoshitoki . . .

Like . . .

Footsteps! Ryōko gasped on hearing that from the outside, and then she got up, heading to the door to see what was going on . . .

. . . just as the door to her room suddenly exploded inward, revealing a white-clad soldier - one of the members of the "Non-Aggressive Defensive Army," the hideous men who were employed as special internal security troops and who were ALWAYS there whenever episodes of _The Program_ played out - who was moving to stagger into the room. One look at his face, made Ryōko scream; the man looked very much like one of Shūya's classmates the previous weekend, who had tried to kill him before that wonderful and noble Kawada Shōgo had saved his life in the open fields of Oki-shima . . .

. . . and then her voice caught in her throat as something very slender and reflective in the moonlight lashed out to wrap a couple times around his throat, making the poor soldier gasp before his air was cut off as the string - _Some sort of wire?_ Ryōko wondered morbidly - was yanked tight against his skin. And then, the wire was yanked even FURTHER, ripping into his flesh and tearing open both his jugular veins and the deeper carotid arteries atop his trachea and oesophagus, digging all the way right to the spinal column itself. And then, as the poor soldier's killer calmly walked inside, she yanked hard on the wire . . . which literally ripped away the remaining bone and soft tissue connecting his head to his body, making the severed organ fall forward to land with a hollow _thud!_ on the floor as his body dropped to its knees, then collapsed over it, the blood flowing from shattered veins and arteries spilling out all around him.

As Ryōko - who was totally overwhelmed by the shock of the moment to say anything, much less scream out in fright - took that in, the raven-haired woman in the lovely white qípáo with the matching white calf-high boots over her feet then drew back her weighted garrotte and allowed it to rest in one gloved hand. "Anno Ryōko?" she asked in a stilted voice influenced by a strange accent Ryōko couldn't place.

Ryōko blinked as her mind moved to start rebooting. "Y-y-yes . . .?"

"Come with me . . . if you wish to live . . . and see Shūya and Yoshitoki . . . again," Natsukimi Mien (Kakōen Myōsai) bade her with her free hand.

Ryōko stared at her. "Yoshitoki . . . but he's dead . . .!"

"No," Mien said. "He lives. And he will be worried. Come!"

Before the orphanage matron could react, the jade-shot fighter from Kyoshō grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of the room . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	22. And Hell Came With Him

"Oba-san! Oba-san! Who are these people?"

Ryōko immediately moved to comfort one of the younger children who had been living at the Charity House since her parents had been killed in a typhoon the previous summer, five year-old Taguchi Kimiko. She was quick to note that Kimiko and the other orphans living here had been brought out into the courtyard by a whole group of strangely dressed people. All high school students by the looks of them, though they didn't wear any sort of school uniform. And while several of them, like the beautiful woman in the qípáo that had used her glove-mounted garrotte to literally BEHEAD one of the NADA soldiers, were standing protectively close by to keep the children safe, the others were unleashing unspeakable attacks - almost straight out of fighting manga that was read passionately by many of Ryōko's older charges - on what seemed to be a platoon's worth of the Interior Security Ministry's special troops.

"Who are you?" a bleeding sergeant gasped as he tried to pull up his Minebea PM-9 and lock it on the strange fellow with the patch over his left eye.

He didn't move fast enough before the younger man was right into his face, a fist flying in. "We're the people curb-stompin' your asses into the ground, jerk!"

The sergeant's nose exploded from the crushing impact, which made him gargle out in blinding pain as he was forced back by the shock of blow . . . to be impaled through his heart by a straight-bladed Chinese sword welded another fellow in plain clothes, one possessing tanned skin and spiky blond-dyed hair. As the sergeant looked down in shock as all feeling from below his heart faded away, the sword was then yanked UP to cleave that vital organ right in half, then rip open his lungs and pry apart his left shoulder at the juncture with the neck. "Nice one, Bun'en!" the fellow with the patch said, an appreciative nod tilting his face, before he raced off to join a flame-haired fellow dressed like a beach bum, who was strangling a lieutenant single-handedly.

"Anytime, Genjō," Hari Haruka (Chōryō Bun'en) said before looking around. "Anyone else?"

"They are dealt with, Bun'en-kun."

That was a near-giant of a woman - a first-year high school student by her voice and physical looks - in what appeared to be a dark blue school volleyball team player's uniform, the number **12** on her front in white. She had spiky green-dyed hair and very motherly blue eyes. She had just come over from effortlessly dealing with the remainder of the platoon, along with a girl dressed in what appeared to be a maid's uniform, though she also had a compound bow in hand, an arrow notched into the string. Those they had fought were either dead from snapped necks or arrows shot into their heads. "Yes, they are dealt with, Bun'en-oniisama," the younger woman said as she glanced around, her long brown hair being tossed by the wind as a glittering rosary - _She's Catholic?_ Ryōko exclaimed to herself - tinkled in the evening from around her neck. "God gave us the strength and power to deliver justice onto these monsters."

"Amen to that, Orai!" the fellow with the eye-patch said before he turned to gaze over at Ryōko and the crowd of small children close to her. "Ah, there she is! Yo, Mōtoku!" he called out to the man now strangling the lieutenant. "You want to talk to the nice lady here or you still busy with the goose-stomper there?"

The other fellow looked over . . . and Ryōko felt the breath in her throat catch on her seeing that his eyes were a pair of glowing orbs. "**Just a moment, Ton**," he then said in a voice that echoed with almost heavenly power, and then he squeezed his hand.

That _crushed_ the lieutenant's throat, causing blood exploding from shattered veins and arteries to shower the ground around him. As a dying gasp escaped the officer's lips, his body was tossed contemptuously aside by the man who had just killed him. Immediately, the volleyball player went over, drawing what appeared to be a hand-knit handkerchief from her shorts pocket to give to him. He took it without a word, and then proceeded to calmly wipe the blood and gore from his hands . . . as those glowing eyes turned back into a pair of normal brown orbs that reflected cunning intelligence, an iron will and a kind warmth now being projected to the girl that just gave him the cloth to help clean his hands. The fellow then turned to gaze on Ryōko, who felt herself frozen in place as those eyes locked on her own, making her heart beat fast in her chest as he then walked over to join her and her charges. "Are you alright, Anno-san?" he asked in a deep yet warm voice. "None of the children hurt?"

"I . . . uh . . . " Ryōko started, and then she shook her head before gazing around at her charges. Quickly seeing that none of them appeared to be injured - though some did look a little shocked at the fact that they had just witnessed the brutal KILLING of nearly two dozen men by these strange people - she slowly nodded. "Yes, they're alright." She then turned to gaze up at the woman who had killed the sergeant with her garrotte. "Who are you people?" she then asked as she looked back at the fellow who had crushed the lieutenant's throat. "Why did she say that Yoshitoki was alive?" she then indicated the girl in the qípáo. "I saw the live show of what happened on Oki-shima! Kamon shot him dead right in the classroom . . .!"

It was too much for her. "Myōsai!" Tsukasa Torusuke barked.

As Ryōko collapsed in on herself and began to sob - which made many of the kids start to cry - Mien leaned down to scoop her up into her arms. "Mō-kun, we'll get them all aboard _Yamato_," Bakari Choko said as some of the other Kyoshō fighters moved to scoop some of them up into their arms to provide comfort.

"Go!" Torusuke barked as he drew out his communicator. "Sōsō to Sonsaku!"

"Sō-chin! You guys okay?" a bright and cheery voice called back.

"Yeah, we managed to rescue Anno Ryōko and the kids she was watching over," the leader of Kyoshō stated as Natsukimi Makoto drew out his own communicator to make a call up to _Yamato_ to beam them out. "No innocents hurt here. How are you doing?"

"We just found Noriko-chan's brother in the local jail!" Mago Tsueko called back. "They hadn't fed the poor fella in DAYS! He's starving!"

"We're getting most of the others' parents mustered up downtown, Sōsō," Sebone Mimōko added. "We should be ready to clear out of here in ten minutes!"

"Work fast, Ryomō!" Torusuke warned.

"Hai!"

* * *

West of Shiroiwa, that moment . . .

"_**SHINZ**__**Ō**__** BAKUHATSU SHOKU!**_"

The ki-charged fingers slammed into the selected target . . .

. . . and then the main doors of the Kiriyama home exploded inward in a shower of pulped wood and twisted metal. "Righteous!" Futoshi Itsuku whooped as the mixed crowd of tōshi from Yōshū, Gogun and Rakuyō - along with two former Rakuyō tōshi who now went to Tomobiki High School - stormed into the darkened main floor foyer.

"Wait!" Kokoni Kichimi called out as her nose twitched. "You smell that?"

The others stopped as they sniffed the air, quickly detecting an all too familiar sweet-sour stench. "People're dead here!" Miyako warned as she and Shikuko both backed up a step to put them closer to Ataru, who had used the Heart-Blast Touch to blow open the main doors. "Loads of them . . . "

"Everyone, move in pairs!" Kichimi ordered. "No one gets separated!"

"Hai!" many of the others chanted as they moved to examine the house.

"Found someone!" a man then cried out.

Kichimi and Itsuku came over, and then both grimaced. "Maid!" the latter said on seeing the ugly mess near the door leading to the kitchen. "Head shot."

"How long ago?" the former asked.

The leader of Yōshū leaned down as he scanned the remains. "Probably about three days ago, I'd figure," he said, trying not to scowl too much. "And it's buckshot that did her in, too. Some type of hunting shotgun. Not a rifle."

"Or sub-machine gun," Shikuko said as she came up to join them.

"You figure Kazuo-kun's parents did this?" Miyako asked.

"Let's go find out, Kōdai," Itsuku said. "Watch your asses, guys!"

Everyone split apart. By then, Ataru was slowly moving upstairs. He had taken off his normal running shoes and slipped on a pair of soft-soled tabi boots to better disguise his footfalls; the stairs were wooden and clearly Western in design though they didn't creak under his weight. Also coming with him were Tadasu Suguta and Uru Hokona, the leader of Rakuyō holding one of the Bǎiyǒngdāo swords. It took them three minutes to get up to the upper floor of the mansion. A glance down the hallways revealed much. "Two maids and a butler by the looks of it," Suguta whispered as he nodded towards the corpses laid out on the floor off to their left. "Another maid down that way," he then said as he nodded off to their right, where another corpse lay by an open doorway leading into a well-lit room. "No one alive in there," he added, pointing.

"I'll check it out," Ataru said.

He then stealthily moved to one side of the hallway, and then slowly made his way down to stand by the open door. Drawing out a small mirror from his pocket, he slowly moved to place it in such a way where he could look inside. One look was enough to make him relax, and then he beckoned the two Rakuyō tōshi over to join him. Suguta and Hokona moved over, and then glanced inside. "Oh, gods!" the latter gasped.

"Well, at least someone regretted not being there when he was needed," the former said as he stepped inside the bedroom, where a middle-aged woman now lay on the bed, half her head a ruin thanks to a close-range shotgun blast. And there was a man seated at a work desk in front of a computer. There was virtually nothing left of his head above his neck, courtesy of what appeared to be a single-barrel pump-action shotgun, that now lying against one of his legs. "Nasty way to go," Suguta added as he looked up to see the large splash of long-dried blood and shredded flesh and bone on both the ceiling and floor behind the corpse.

"I wonder how many more are like them," Hokona mused.

"Hopefully not anyone else," Ataru said, shaking his head as he moved to draw out his communicator. "Surprising if you ask me," he noted. "The manga said _The Program_ happened once a _**year**_. Here in this dimension, it's once a _**week**_! Why . . .?"

"Kamikaze attitude, Ataru."

He stared at Suguta. "They won World War Two . . . "

"But it wasn't a _clear_ victory like the samurai of old would normally prefer it," the leader of Rakuyō stated. "That's probably another reason _The Program_ was started. It showed people going out and fighting AND DYING to win the right to live." A sigh. "Something tells me that - even if there are going to be a lot of deaths in a few hours thanks to the Staff - there are going to be an even greater number of people who are going to go through what the Japan in our universe did after 1945."

Ataru blinked as he considered it, and then he sighed. "You mean the adults were always indoctrinated to treat their lives as if they were still at war?"

"Hai. What better way to make sure people wouldn't launch an all-out rebellion against it?" Suguta asked. "I don't know if those kids on _Freedom_ understand it deep in their hearts. Not realising how much this society they were born in _brainwashed_ their parents into accepting the flat-out _**murder**_ of forty young teenagers on average - and doing it WEEKLY along the way! - into thinking such was _normal_." A chuckle. "In a way, the kids are planning to do the right thing tomorrow morning, my friend."

"This universe's version of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you mean?"

"Hai."

Ataru then nodded before pulling out his communicator. "Moroboshi to _Freedom_."

"_Freedom_, Noda here," Satomi called back. "Sempai, where are you?"

"Satomi-chan, is Kazuo there?"

"Just a moment."

A pause, and then, "Kiriyama."

Ataru closed his eyes. "Kazuo, I have some bad news for you . . . "

* * *

_Freedom_ . . .

"When do you believe this happened?"

"We believe three days ago," Suguta stated. "The staff were all killed first; their bodies are all over the house. Most likely, they didn't see it coming until it was too late. And then the woman in the bedroom - your stepmother, I assume - before your father turned the shotgun on himself." A pause, and then he asked, "Is this your room?"

"Which side of the building are you on?" Kazuo asked.

Watching him from all over the bridge, the other _Program_ survivors were stunned speechless on noting that their classmate and friend was still as icy calm as ever, even on hearing of the combined murder-suicide that had now permanently made him as much of an orphan as Shūya, Yoshitoki and Shōgo. Even Mizuho was awake for this, she gazing with sad understanding on the man who - in their first lives - had killed her on Oki-shima. The members of Kazuo's gang - including Kanai Izumi - were standing close to him as he took the report from Shiroiwa. "We're on the west side, Kazuo," Ataru answered. "The second-to-last bedroom on the south side of the corridor."

"My father's private study," Kazuo then stated. "My bedroom was on the east side of the building, last room facing south." He then sighed. "Sempai?"

"Hai?"

"Thank you for telling me this."

"No problem. You want to come down here and see it for yourself?"

Kazuo blinked, and then he closed his eyes. "Perhaps when this is over and we do not have to worry about facing a potential armed camp. Again, my thanks."

"Okay. End call."

The link was cut as silence fell over the bridge. People kept staring at the man now standing close to Satomi's station, he gazing out into space, his face still passive and neutral as it always seemed to be to them. Finally, Mitsuru took a deep breath. "B-b-Boss . . . you okay?" he hesitantly asked. "I mean . . . " A shake of the head. "Oh, fuck, Boss! I don't even know what the hell to say to you! I . . .!"

"In that way, you are quite fortunate, Mitsuru."

The other man stopped. "What do you mean?"

"You can feel. You always HAVE felt. All of you," he said as he gazed on the members of his gang and the one girl who - for reasons he didn't understand - had pretty much fallen in love with him, thus had become part of his gang by default. "And even if I am now starting to awaken to what I have missed for so long thanks to that accident damaging my mind . . . I know I must feel _something_ about this."

"You just don't know _what_ to feel. Isn't that right?"

Kazuo blinked, and then gazed on Shō, who was staring at him with eyes filled with a tortured understanding. "Yes, Shō, you are correct."

"Didn't your father EVER realise what was happening to you?"

He looked down to Satomi, and then he breathed out. "If he did, he certainly did not show it to me, Satomi. Not in the nine years I lived in the embrace of the endless grey, from the moment my mother died to the moment Noriko shot at me on the island." A shake of the head. "Nor did he try to do anything to help me. Neither did the woman who took the place of my mother. Nor did the others that served him."

"Fuck . . .!" Hiroshi breathed out, shaking his head.

"Boss . . .!" Izumi moaned, her eyes now awash with tears.

"He couldn't make himself see what you had become."

People turned to gaze on the woman who had just stood up from the captain's chair. "Is that what the Staff told you, Mizuho?" Kazuo asked.

"Aye," the would-be warrior-priestess stated. "Like all our sires and dams - to one extent or another - your father was always haunted with the possibility that he might come home one day and find out you were no longer alive. But he - like so many of our sires and dams - also believed that no matter what would happen, we would face our fates in _The Program_ like the noble warriors of old. Empowered with the teachings of bushidō that have ruled our homeland for so long . . . and knowing that upon our deaths - as it is so taught in Shintō - our souls will be forever free of sin, of shame and of guilt. And that sustained him. And it blinded him to the real truth. As your sire's new wife so believed. As your sire's servants also believed."

"When he saw the recordings of our 'episode,' he found out the truth about the Boss. Is that what you're saying, Mizuho?" Ryūhei asked as he gazed on Kazuo.

"Aye, friend Ryūhei. Only when he heard Master Kazuo say 'I can feel again' before the Staff snared his soul to shield it from the _Te'a_'s most eternal embrace . . . did his father realise the ugly truth all our sires and dams realised when each and every one of us 'died.'" A pause, and then she added, "And they were badly hurt by it. As were all the other sires and dams - and all the relatives - of all those who went before us. But in the case of many, I believe those painful and deep wounds are healing . . . or, like Master Kazuo's sire, they elected to join their lost children in the embrace of Eternity." A sigh. "Come tomorrow morning, we will rip open ALL those slowly-healing wounds by showing them we are still alive . . . yet destined to _**never**_ live with them, separated by both the veil of the dimensions and the barrier of time. Rip it all open and expose them to the deadly infestation called 'the truth.' And the country that has no soul, no true course to direct itself into the undiscoverable country that awaits it . . . will then learn it also has no LIFE left to sustain it."

"Are you sayin' we should stop?"

Mizuho smirked. "If we do that, my dear Hirono, then we simply will delay the inevitable," she said as she gazed on Kaori's lover. "Our homeland must change or it will finally wither and die, one way or another. What is worse, if we do nothing, the punishment the uncaring Fates would unleash on those we leave behind . . . will be far darker, more painful and completely shattering that we could ever dare imagine."

"You mean like the way it was in Sempai's universe after they dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?" Noriko asked.

A nod. "Aye, my beloved _ashi'cha_!" She ignored Noriko's mad blush as she turned to gaze out into space. "In that reality, the Americans did unto those who lived in our soon-to-be homeland a great mercy. They showed - by word and by deed - what forcing the ways of the warriors on a country of NORMAL people _without_ their consent would lead to. 'The way of the warrior is death,' after all. But here, the Americans could do no such thing. By the time they could bring the full weight of their industrial power unto us, we were armed with something they couldn't counter and the leaders of Japan made it quite clear that they would use it without hesitation. And that they would have allies that would use it as well. Nuclear Armageddon was in the air . . . so in 1946, the war was stopped in a stalemate." A smirk. "But by then, the militarists who got Japan into that war were in charge and didn't want to allow any sort of 'peace dividend' to come forth and erode that power. And so our land was made to live on, ALWAYS immersed in the way of the warrior . . . even for those of us who had never been given the chance to choose if we desired to live such a life."

She then sat down in the captain's chair. "'The way of the warrior is death,'" she said again as she slowly relaxed herself. "Very well, then. We shall give those who believe it so much the right to EXPERIENCE the way of the warrior. And hopefully, all those who were ALSO victimised by such a belief will awaken and understand."

The others remained quiet as Mizuho once more slipped into a meditative trance, her body going still as the Staff's crystal began to glow brighter. For all of the girls, it was normal to see the would-be warrior-priestess like this; it gave them a sense of safety and comfort, knowing the woman who had seized that remarkable device - and through it, had ultimately saved all of their lives - was still linked to it. As for the guys who had just joined their beloved classmates in the last day or so, they all looked confused and worried . . . save for Kazuo, who still seemed indifferent to it all. "Is it okay leavin' her like this?" Mitsuru then asked.

"It is," Noriko said, and then she sighed. "Yoshio-kun?"

"Hai?" Yoshio - who had come down to spend time on the bridge discussing things with Satomi just as the call from Shiroiwa had come in - then asked.

"Target and destroy the Hō'ō satellites on their next passes close to us," she ordered. "Then target weapons on all the known silo fields for the Army's ballistic missile regiments and those Navy missile submarines we can see. Do not fire on them just yet. I suspect we should be getting a call from Tōkyō once whoever is in charge of the NADA learns of what Sempai's tōshi friends have done in our old hometown."

The gentle giant nodded. "Hai, Noriko-san. I'll do that now."

"Arigatō."

"May God forgive us all . . . "

Eyes locked on Yūko, who had clasped her hands in prayer as she had bowed her head. "Hai, Yūko-san. May God forgive us all for what we're about to do," Noriko said with a tired nod before she felt Yukie embrace her and Shūya's comforting hands squeeze her shoulders . . .

* * *

The _Yamato_, the aft cafeteria, an hour later . . .

"So we got everyone?" Torusuke asked.

"Everyone that was still breathin' when we went down there," Makoto said before he drank the coffee he got from a nearby dispenser. "Hear what Kazuo's dad did?"

The leader of Kyoshō nodded. "Hai. The proper thing to do in the end . . . but it was too little, too late for Kazuo." A shrug. "Or maybe not. Given the idiot that dragged all their souls out of this dimension into ours was hell bent and determined to get his harem of teenage sex-slaves, the chances are good that if Kazuo had flipped heads instead of tails, he - and all those others who would have survived - would still have been snared, just like all those who would have still died, too."

"Yeah," Makoto breathed out. "Can't understand it, man . . . "

"Can't understand what, Makoto?"

"_The Program_, cousin," the man with the eye-patch - it had taken some months for the Avalonian regenerative enzymes to grow his left eye back in and it was still not working right (hence the patch), though Makoto was progressing enough that he would have full 20/20 vision back by the end of the current school year - said. "What the hell's the purpose of such a thing? Nominally, Japan's at peace. It's a scary peace - practically the Cold War, in fact! - but still at peace. Atop that, even if it has nearly double the population our Japan has, there's still room for people to settle in and make new farms and towns. Hell, let them emigrate to some of the other countries of their commonwealth if it gets crowded. Why ask a classroom full of KIDS to go kill themselves every goddamned WEEK? And do it for the last FIFTY YEARS?"

"'Keep up the scare,'" Torusuke quoted the American Civil War general Nathan Bedford Forrest. "Dictatorships have to do everything they can to keep the common folk in line; NOT doing that is a guarantee of a successful revolt against them." He then smirked. "Keeping tight reigns on the press helps, though I wonder if they censor the Internet here like China does back home. And the racism is a good thing, too."

"Can't trust anybody that's not Japanese."

"Or any other Oriental."

"Excuse me."

Both men turned, and then smiled as a woman came up to them. She was dressed in clothes that made her a homemaker. Save for being older and possessing long, flowing hair, she bore a distant resemblance to Sakaki Yūko, which - as both Kyoshō tōshi realised - made this woman her mother Kaori. "Hai, Mrs. Sakaki?" Torusuke asked.

"Is it true?" the elder Sakaki asked. "What your friends said about Yūko?"

Both men nodded. "She's alive and well," the leader of Kyoshō affirmed.

Kaori blinked, and then she shuddered. "Thank the gods . . .!"

"But she won't be able to live with you anymore," Torusuke added.

The older woman jolted, her eyes going wide as if someone had just snuck up and slammed a knife right into her heart. "Why . . .?" she nearly sobbed.

"Because the body she has now was created in _**our**_ dimension, ma'am," he explained, keeping his voice calm and respectful so as to not cause Yūko's mother more distress than she was already feeling. "It's an iron-clad rule about transiting between parallel dimensions or alternate timelines. You can't stay in a dimension or timeline that's not your own for more than a solar year, dependant on how long the solar year is on the planet of your birth." Torusuke wasn't sure if the rule applied to alternate timelines, but since they shared many qualities with parallel dimensions, it did make sense. "And in Yūko's case - not to mention all of her female classmates - it's even more confusing. The planet she was 'reborn' on has - pardon me, HAD - a longer orbital year than Earth does. So she could stay longer, but . . . "

"She doesn't want to come home."

That was Sakaki Sōichirō, Yūko's father; he had just come up to join them. "I'm afraid so," Torusuke affirmed. "It may have been just a week for you, Sakaki-dono . . . but for Yūko, it's been over TEN MONTHS! Ten months where feelings of rejection, abandonment and loneliness - save for her being with her co-survivors - have festered to the point where she and they eventually decided that, even if they intend to get justice against the people who effectively ordered them to die, they will not want to live in the Japan of their birth. And sadly, since the laws of interdimensional travel guarantee that she will have no choice but to live in the dimension where her body was created . . . well, she - and I will not speculate on what her personal feelings are in this case - will have no choice but to live in our dimension."

Hearing that, both of Yūko's parents shuddered before Kaori began to sob as her husband reached over to draw her into her arms. "It's as if she's still dead . . .!" she moaned as he held her close. "We'll never see our baby again . . . never again . . .!"

"Then do something about it."

Both turned to gaze on Makoto. "But what can we do?" Sōichirō demanded. "You don't know what it's been like for all of us these last decades!"

"We have a pretty good idea, sir," Torusuke stated. "And besides, remember what we told you when you first were brought here: By tomorrow morning, the device that - in effect - saved your daughter's life will be unleashed on the people who are hard-core supporters of _The Program_ and its continuation. They will be exposed - each and every one of them - to the combined feelings ALL 'players' from 1947 to 2000 felt during those weekends when they were force to kill or be killed. _**All at once!**_" As the Sakakis gaped in shock on hearing that - they had been given a basic briefing by Sebone Mimōko when they had first been brought aboard this beautiful ship bearing the ancient flag of Japan on her hull and given the poetic name of her home nation, but it hadn't really sunk in then - the leader of Kyoshō added, "Once the dead flesh has been cut away and disposed of, I think there will be many people who are far more worthy and far more capable of leading your country into a brighter and better future."

"How many are we talking about?"

That was Kyōichi's father, Motobuchi Ichimaru. A member of the House of Representatives in the effectively rubber-stamp Diet of the Greater East Asia Republic, he represented the first district of Kagawa Prefecture. And while he wasn't anywhere close to the real halls of power in the Republic, he was often treated as such . . . though he had learned last week that such preferential treatment had not extended to his only child. "We don't know," Makoto stated. "But maybe you can figure it out, Motobuchi-san. How many really hard-core supporters for _The Program_ are there?"

Ichimaru blinked as he considered that, and then he sighed. "Well, you can't work in a decision-making position anywhere in Internal Security without showing public support for Experiment Program 68. And demonstrate that support EVERY DAY of your life, regardless of what might happen or if your own relatives are taken in to become 'players' in any of the events. Certainly not join the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army, of course. You'd never be a minister anywhere in government. Beyond that . . . " A shake of the head. "It's truthfully hard to say. About a hundred thousand, maybe?"

"Eye for an eye," Makoto mused.

"What do you mean?" Kaori asked.

"They came up with the total number of kids that have been forced into that garbage since '47, ma'am," the Kyoshō sophomore stated. "A hundred-and-eight thousand, eight-hundred and twenty-two. Not including the new class starting up tomorrow."

"Or 'would have been' starting up," Torusuke advised his cousin.

"Oh, right!" Makoto then chuckled. "Poor jerks. Walk into that room and say, 'Hey! Where the hell did the kids go?'" A delighted laugh escaped him.

Yūko's parents and Kyōichi's father were white-faced on hearing that total. "A hundred-and-eight THOUSAND?" Ichimaru screamed out. "My gods! I . . .!" He then shook his head. "Why didn't anyone say anything about that? That's . . .!"

"An average of about a little over two thousand a year, forty people at a time over fifty weeks in every year. It's not so shocking compared to normal accidents like car crashes, earthquakes, tidal waves and the like," Makoto said. "Even more, they shifted this from place to place all over Japan and elsewhere, right? AND you've got over two hundred million people in the country, right?" As the older people nodded, the master of basics then shrugged. "Well, if it didn't affect you personally, it really wasn't any of your business. Yeah, it was sad when someone lost a son or a daughter, but it didn't really affect YOU! And you weren't encouraged to say anything about it. If you did, those goose-steppers we pounded into protoplasm back down in Shiroiwa would've probably dragged you all off to the Gulag. Or whatever you call it here."

"That is true," Sōichirō then stated. "But what happens if - even after Yūko and her friends have all those people killed off - that some other group won't take over and keep it going? Or, gods forbid, do something _worse_?"

"A hundred-and-eight thousand, eight-hundred and twenty-two," Makoto repeated. "Almost all of them have got parents just like you good people. Normal folks who didn't do nothing to make the high mucky-mucks mad at them . . . yet look what happened? Your kids got sucked into an ugly meat-grinder - and when they were in MIDDLE SCHOOL, for fuck's sake! - and they were taken from you. If we're averagin' about three relatives per 'player' - thought there might be more - you're potentially looking at a total of almost HALF A MILLION PEOPLE who were directly hurt by _The Program_."

"That's the start of a revolution," Torusuke added.

"But what about the Army and Navy?" Kaori demanded. "They have all the guns! All the missiles! All the weapons of mass destruction! How could we . . .?"

"Who will give the _orders_?" the leader of Kyoshō then asked. "Motobuchi-dono, you can probably answer this question. If ALL the figures in the high positions in the Republic's government are either killed or permanently incapacitated, what happens then? Who takes over? What is the proper process for something like that happening?"

Ichimaru sighed. "There is none."

"What?" Sōichirō gasped.

"There is none, Sōichirō-san," the dietman explained. "This was never at all envisioned when all the security protocols were made up concerning protecting the Central Committee and the senior leadership in all the ministries. If there was a perceived threat - a move towards the launch of a first nuclear strike against us, for example - the ones who needed to be protected to lead the country would have been evacuated to safer locations." He then gazed once more on the Kyoshō students. "But Kyōichi and his friends . . . they have a weapon that can still get them, right?"

"It's the same thing that pulled your kids' souls out of their bodies before they permanently died and allowed them to live again," Makoto stated. "And that was done ACROSS the DIMENSIONAL BARRIERS and BACK TEN YEARS in time!" He shook his head. "There ain't nothin' your leaders have got that'll protect them from THAT!"

"A dictatorship is not a hydra," Torusuke added. "With a hydra, even if you cut off one head, another will take its place. That will not happen here. Once the head is cut off, the beast will die. It cannot survive the loss of its head."

Ichimaru blinked as his mind rolled over what he was hearing. "We'll have no government. At least no EXECUTIVE part of government. Only the legislative . . .!"

"Which will then be free to do the jobs they should have done," the leader of Kyoshō stated. "Or at least, what they should have been ALLOWED to do. Ask yourself this, Motobuchi-dono: Would YOU have allowed _The Program_ to go on like it did? Would you have allowed it to even _**start**_ off like it did back in 1947?"

"Of course not!"

Torusuke nodded; he was well-versed in reading people and he knew that Kyōichi's father was speaking the earnest truth. "Then why haven't you been allowed to do something about it?" he then wondered, crossing his arms.

"The Central Committee wouldn't allow it!"

"What if there's NO Central Committee LEFT? And even better, no Non-Aggressive Defensive Army around to enforce their decisions?" Torusuke then asked. "You said it yourself, sir. There are NO plans to keep the government running in case the real decision-makers are all killed off. Who will keep the country going if there are no leaders in place to make sure the people are safe and happy? How will the people themselves react if - no, WHEN! - they see that happen in the next day or so?"

Ichimaru shuddered. "People will panic . . . "

"Unless they see someone taking charge and doing something about it."

The dietman looked at Makoto, who had a smirk on his face. He then blinked as he considered that before nodding. "Yes, that is true . . . "

* * *

Taka-shima (south-southwest of Nagasaki) . . .

"So, are they all ready?"

"Hai, Sakamochi-san," the sergeant in charge of the preparation detail said as he gazed on the director of Event 56-31, Sakamochi Kinpatsu. "All Model 22 units have been verified. All field kits are ready and all systems to mark out the exclusion zones were tested an hour ago. We also did a full search of all their bodies to make sure that surprises like what Mimura did last weekend can't happen again."

"Well done," the _Program_ director for this event stated, nodding as a gleeful smile crossed his face. Gazing on the unmoving players now sitting slumped over on their desks in one of the classrooms at Taka-shima Junior High School, he could only shudder as the anticipation he felt for tomorrow's start. He always felt this way when it came to a new episode for _The Program_. Such potential, such vigour, such energy . . . and they would all get the chance to test themselves out in the ultimate "no-win" scenario.

And perhaps one will emerge victorious . . .

According to the files he had perused when the class from Nagasaki had been chosen for Event 56-31, it looked pretty good. Like the previous class from Kagawa, there were the delinquents, including a boy's team calling themselves the "Black Cats" in German. There were the nerds, the introverts, the jocks, the weird ones and the normal people, too. And given what had happened the previous weekend, any potential surprises this class might unleash on those running this event had been done away with . . . though there hadn't been much in the way of contraband save for the odd cell-phone.

_Yes, this will be quite good!_ Sakamochi mused to himself as he gazed on each of the unconscious people in the classroom. The gender mix was tilted a little towards the girls - there were only nineteen boys in this class of 42 third-year middle school students - which would make things a little more exciting; the all-girls classes that got drawn into _The Program_ produced some of the most passionate fighters, both with their firearms and with each other. _A lot of teenage T&A - to borrow the Western term for it - will make the DVD sales all the sweeter in the long term!_ the field director mused as he gazed on one particular girl - Girl Number Four, Kitano Shiori; much to Sakamochi's surprise, she was the only daughter of a late _Program_ director, Kitano Takeshi, who had died in a car accident shortly after Event 53-14 - in the room. _Pity you weren't here to see your daughter in action, Takeshi-kun. Then again, you'll be there to welcome her when she enters Heaven . . . if she doesn't win the thing!_

Noting that, the field director nodded. Much that he understood why Minister Tsugawa had insisted that NO ONE survive this particular event, Sakamochi would run it by the book. Only _**one**_ survivor in the end unless there were more than one people alive at the end of the 72 hour time period on Monday morning at 0800 hours. And while he was glad there wasn't a repeat player like Kawada Shōgo in this group - a unique instance that had NEVER happened before in the history of _The Program_ - he knew that the previous week's events might actually inspire these kids to do something similar. _Can't let that happen_, Sakamochi mused to himself. _No, that will not do . . ._

"Sir, we're going to pump in the general anaesthetic now," the sergeant advised.

The field director perked, and then he nodded. "Yes, of course."

With that, he walked out of the room, pausing at the doorway to take one last look at such an innocent scene. _Do me proud, little warriors . . .!_

* * *

The _Arizona_, that moment . . .

"I got them!"

People perked on hearing that declaration, and then moved over to stand around the station OS3(AW) Jacqueline Litchenburg was manning now. "Talk to me!" Tom Kazanski ordered as he and the other senior officers and NCOs of the ship - those not on the _Freedom_ at this time - gathered in a semi-circle behind her chair.

"Taka-shima Junior High School, Captain. Just like it is in our dimension; the guys on _Yamato_ sent over all the detailed scans they did of the whole country when they started manning her full-time in August," the Queens native said as she tapped controls to blow up the image the ground-facing sensors were now feeding here. "Northeast wing of the school building, second floor, definitely one of the classrooms. Forty-two people - nineteen boys, twenty-three girls - all in the right age group." She then paused as something came up. "All of them wearing collars with plastique explosives - looks like some sort of C-4 derivative - and transmitter/receivers on them, sir."

"Anyone else in the classroom?" Ron Kerner demanded.

"Four others, Captain. All men in their mid-twenties. I say they're military, probably this 'non-aggressive defensive army' we've heard so much about," Litchenburg said, a disgusted sneer crossing her face. "No different than the goddamned _Schutzstaffel_ that ran the camps all over Europe!" she then muttered.

"You Jewish, Jackie?" Keith Hayward asked.

"My grandparents - my dad's parents - both survived Janowska as kids, Master Chief," she replied. "It was near L'viv; the Ukraine owns the territory these days." She then gazed at the people around her as they nodded in understanding before turning back to her screen. "They actually escaped when the Nazis moved to liquidate the camp in November of '43, then stayed mobile and safe in the forests until they met up with units of the Polish Home Army. They got sent across the line after the war ended, met up with friends that survived deportation to Auschwitz, then moved with them to New York. They've never let me forget it even if I'm not religious in the long term."

"Smart people," Kazanski noted. "What do you think we should do?"

"Beam the kids out now and let them babysit a concussion missile warhead, sir. Preferably an anti-matter one," Litchenburg said with a smirk, and then she shrugged. "But that'll spoil the surprise and that smart hacker on _Freedom_ said that islands like this one are only 'rented' temporarily to allow these 'episodes' to be run. No sense blowing up innocent people's homes. So we just wait for the goon squad to vacate the room, then pull a David Copperfield on 'em." As the others gazed at her, she added, "Not as spectacular as making the Statue of Liberty disappear, but it'll be a surprise. Especially to the bozos that are on the island."

The others all laughed at that bland joke. "Miss Litchenburg, you are in charge of the operation," Kazanski then ordered, which made the Queens native turn to gape wide-eyed at him. "Make sure you get all those kids out of that place, whole and intact. Coordinate with the materialiser room crews and whoever you need to get those kids transported on board. And make sure it's done as soon as possible."

She blinked, and then nodded, her body puffing with pride at being given charge of such an important task at her current rate level. "Aye-aye, sir."

With that, the others pulled away as she slipped on a headset, then moved to start making calls. _Arizona_'s command master chief followed her commanding officer out of the combat information centre into the hallway that led to the turbolift station. "Like you did it for everyone that worked in your pit crew, Boss," Hayward mused as Kazanski tapped a control to summon a car. "Just like the old days on _Enterprise_."

"As I recall, you got brought up a few ratings like that, Keith," the former F-14 pilot mused as he gazed on the former master chief aircraft maintenanceman - Keith Hayward had trained as an aviation machinist's mate when he first was promoted out of the seaman ratings almost twenty years before - who had worked as one of the senior team leaders in VFA-14 during Kazanski's last sea posting eight years before, right after the Tophatters had traded in their Tomcats for Super Hornets.

"And respectfully, sir, you did the right thing for everyone," Hayward noted as the turbolift car came up. "She'll go far, that one. She's a lifer. I can feel it."

The doors opened, and then the two men stepped inside. "Senior Officer's Quarters," Kazanski called out, and then he looked over at Hayward. "Make sure all the paperwork's done on her, Keith. If anyone complains, send him to me."

A nod. "Aye-aye, sir."

* * *

Taka-shima, twenty minutes later . . .

"It's done, Sergeant. The room's totally sealed."

"Good. You made sure those with medical problems were looked after?"

The private nodded. "Hai! The diabetic was given an insulin injection after her blood-sugar readings were taken - she wasn't that high, but it's better to be safe now than sorry later - and the asthmatic was given another cortisone dosage. The doctor believes there may be a possible 'roid rage response. From what all the data on her states, she actually deals with her symptoms with frequent baths in hot water."

The sergeant - he had been part of the support crew of six previous _Program_ episodes - considered that before shrugging. "Well, she might be an early one to get taken down . . . or possibly a 'dark horse' player who'll keep her head down, then move to make a clean sweep of it near the end. You never know in these things."

The other soldier nodded. "Hai."

"Well, let's get racked down. We'll be busy tomorrow."

"Hai!"

They headed off, moving over to the northwest side of the school building, which was where they had set up the control room for the upcoming event. As they began their descent down to the ground floor, a very faint ringing noise began to echo from the classroom that had been set aside for the "homeroom" class in Event 56-31 . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	23. The Last Class, Never to Play

Fukuda Kazumi felt like she was in some weird dream.

Her class had been heading out on a weekend camping trip into the mountains south of Nagasaki when people on the bus started to get sleepy. She had been surprised at first - it hadn't been that late in the day and people were excited for a chance to get away from school for a day or two, even the "delinquents" the former native of Kanagawa was said to be in charge of - but then she herself felt the fatigue overcome her and make her eventually pass out. As she vainly tried to stay awake, she thought she had heard voices speaking about things that should have frightened her to the core of her being - it sounded like a platoon of those NADA bastards doing some weird spot-check; you just never knew when it came to the goose-steppers! - but it had seemed so distant to her. And then . . .

" . . . is she waking up?"

Odd.

That voice sounded American, even if the words were clear Japanese.

"I think so. I'll give her a stimulant."

She felt something touch the side of her neck, and then heard a hiss. Instantly, new energy flooded her body as her grey eyes slowly opened . . .

. . . and then she found herself staring at a ceiling that was covered by a forest of tubes, wires and the like - _Some sort of factory?_ Kazumi wondered to herself - and the whole thing was painted a very dreary dark grey, almost like the hulls of Navy ships. Noting that, Kazumi frowned. She _hated_ grey. And white and green and all those other depressing colours that reminded her too much of the goose-steppers . . .

Like . . .

Like . . .

It hit her.

_Oh, no! Please don't tell me . . .!_

"Hello!"

She then blinked as a very beautiful - almost _super-_beautiful! - Western woman with long, wavy brown hair and hazel eyes appeared in her vision from somewhere to her right. She had on a star-shaped earring - it was dark green in colour, emblazoned with the Western winged stick-and-curled snake insignia indicative of some sort of medical official - hanging off her left earlobe. She wore a grey button short-sleeved shirt over dark grey trousers. Her sleeves were blank - looking at her, Kazumi immediately realised this girl was in the military; she had _that_ sort of demeanour - of rank insignia, though she did have a nametag of some sort over her right pocket, with a pretty blue-gold-red rectangular ribbon right over it. When the girl reached over with her right arm to gently adjust the blanket that had been draped over Kazumi (which the middle school senior had just sensed), there was a thin curved patch of dark blue at the top of her right sleeve, **U.S.S. ARIZONA** in white stitched into it. As Kazumi took that in, blinking in confusion - if she was destined to participate in _The Program_, what on Earth was an AMERICAN servicewoman doing looking over her; she did understand what "U.S.S." meant - the woman then turned to gaze into her eyes. "Oh, you _are_ awake," she said with a smile that shone like the sun . . . and she had spoken in perfect, literate Japanese! "Well, that's good. I'm glad the stimulant is removing the effects of the anaesthetic they pumped into that room where we found you; we were worried that it would take you people some hours before you woke up finally. How are you feeling right now?"

Surprised at the earnest - even _eager_! - tone of her voice, Kazumi then shrugged. "I dunno," she admitted. "First of all, who are you?"

"Kenner. Kinzie Kenner. Hospitalman Recruit, currently assigned to United States Starship _Arizona_." She then pulled up what looked like a tricorder straight out of _Star Trek_ and moved to tap on it. "And what's your name?"

Kazumi tensed. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Well, it's better than saying 'Hey, you' all the time."

The younger girl blinked, quite surprised by the honest, earnest tone in the older woman's voice, and then she nodded. "Fukuda Kazumi. Shikanotoride Junior High School, Nagasaki City. Class 3-B, Girl Number Fifteen." She then paused before blurting out, "Did you take us prisoner? Are we at war?"

Kinzie blinked, and then she smiled in reassurance at her. It was such an earnest smile that Kazumi immediately thought, _Kawaii . . .!_

"No, we are not at war, Kazumi-san," the hospitalman recruit - she was one of _Arizona_'s plank-owners, the two hundred Terran-form Avalonians who were the original crew of the American starship before she was officially commissioned; that was why she had the ribbon of the Presidential Unit Commendation over her nametag - then answered. "In truth, you and your classmates were about to be made to participate in what I have to confess has to be the most barbaric thing ever devised to hurt children I've ever heard of!" The smile then slipped as she nearly growled out, "_The Program_, you call it here."

Kazumi's breath caught in her throat as her hand snapped up to feel her neck . . . and then she relaxed on sensing nothing there, especially no Model 22 "Guadalcanal" explosive-equipped tracking collar that were standard dress for anyone who was made to "play" in that sickest of television shows. On realising that - which then made her realise that this really beautiful American Navy medic had been part of a group that had just _**saved her life!**_ - she breathed out. "Nanahara and Nakagawa, right?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nanahara Shūya and Nakagawa Noriko," Kazumi repeated herself. "They were the survivors of the last _Program_ episode. People said they headed to the States after they got clear of the goose-steppers on Oki-shima. You did this to help them put a stop to _The Program_, right? You're gonna kick the goose-steppers' asses, right?"

"Well, we are helping," Kinzie stated. "But believe me, Shūya-san and Noriko-san - not to mention ALL the other _Program_ participants; even the ones you believe are all 'dead' - are doing the real leg-work on this one." She then hummed as she turned back to the device in her hand, noting the readings there. "Okay, you should be able to sit up now. Give it a try."

The other girl blinked, and then she shifted her arms over to push her upper body up. Moving with an ease that made her blink once more at the fact that she didn't feel any grogginess or dizziness, Kazumi then fully sat herself up, allowing the blanket that was covering her to pool in her lap. A quick look down showed she was wearing the standard Shikanotoride Junior High single-breasted blue jacket over a white button shirt and bow tie, the whole over a blue-and-grey plaid skirt. She then reached up to check her hair, and then breathed out in relief. "They didn't take out the dye!" she moaned in delight on seeing the pretty blonde hair - her hair was normally a dark brown shade - as she then felt her ears and her hands, quickly confirming all her jewellery was present, not to mention all the rings and bracelets she had on her fingers and arms. "Oh, thank the gods! The damned goose-steppers didn't take my stuff!"

"Fukuda . . . for once in your life . . . shut up . . .!"

Kazumi looked over . . . and then scowled on seeing the curly black-haired girl with the glasses over her blue-grey eyes starting to stir. "Oi! Wake up, Matsuki!"

A tired groan escaped Matsuki Shiho as her eyes slowly opened. Before she could look around and start asking questions, another American servicewoman - she wore the same uniform Kinzie had, but had tanned skin, dirty blonde hair and green eyes - moved to pump something into the honours student's neck, which made Shiho's eyes go very wide before she began to look around. "Where am I?" she gasped before turning to gaze on Kazumi. "Fukuda? What's going on here? Where the hell are we?"

"Relax, Matsuki-san," the other hospitalman recruit said as she placed a hand on Shiho's shoulder, which made the younger girl blink as she turned to stare at her, clearly surprised that this American woman spoke such perfect Japanese. "You're safe and sound. You and your classmates were about to be sucked into _The Program_." As Shiho turned sheet-white on hearing that, her hand snapping automatically to feel her neck, the older woman then smiled as the younger woman relaxed on noting she didn't have a tracking collar on her. "We saved you."

"In other words, we just gave the goose-steppers the finger, Shiho-chan!" Kazumi said as she gave her classmate - Shiho had never got along with any of the members of Kazumi's quasi-gang - an annoyed look. "So stop acting like a dork and relax!"

Shiho glared at her, and then she blinked as she felt the woman holding her shoulder give her a reassuring squeeze. Looking at her, she then thought about it before smiling. "Arigatō," she said as she bowed her head to her.

"Dō itashimashite. Shiho, right?" At the honours student's nod, the older woman waved to herself. "I'm Hospitalman Recruit Aubrey Addams. This is the United States Starship _Arizona_. Welcome aboard. Now, as soon as your two friends are checked out by the others, we'll get you somewhere where you all can have something light to eat to settle your stomachs, then we'll give you all some needed explanations."

Kazumi blinked as her mind ran over what Aubrey had just said, and then she turned around before her jaw dropped. "Yūka! Ai!" she cried out on recognising the two girls who were being treated by two other Navy servicewomen - _Whoa! Are ALL the women on this ship freakin' supermodels?_ Kazumi wondered as she took in the sexy features of two of Kinzie's and Aubrey's sister plank-owners, Hospitalman Recruit Jane Darling and Seaman Recruit Alicia Rio - that had been called in to help with the rescue of the students from Shikanotoride Junior High from being made to participate in _The Program_. Getting to her feet, she moved over to kneel between the stretchers. "You okay?"

"Aaaaah! Stop shouting, Kazumi!" Yazawa Ai moaned as she slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, and then she blinked as Jane pressed a hypospray into her neck. Taking a deep breath as the stimulants took effect, the green-eyed girl with the shaggy, wavy brown hair done in twin ponytails sticking out from behind each ear then looked around. "Oh, man! Thanks!" she said as she gazed on the very sexy blue-eyed blonde Terran-form Avalonian, and then she watched as Jane walked around her to get at Mifune Yūka, who was slowly waking up. "Hey, Yū-chan! Up an' at 'em! Stop being lazy!"

"You're too loud, Ai-chan . . . oooooooh!" the hazel-eyed, crimson-haired girl moaned as Jane put a shot of stimulant into her. "Whoa! What is that stuff?"

"Oh, a general stimulant that should break down the anaesthetic you've been forced to breathe in for the last while," Jane stated. "Take a few deep breaths, then try to sit up, Yūka-san. Alicia here will help you if you need it."

Yūka blinked, and then she stared at her before gazing on the woman kneeling beside here, a Latino-like beauty with brown eyes and curly black hair. "You're Yanks?" she asked as she slowly moved to prop herself up on her elbows.

"Well, we're Americans," Jane stated. "You're lucky no resident of any of the old Confederate States heard that; calling one of them a 'Yankee' is quite insulting."

"We're on the U.S.S. _Arizona_," Shiho explained. She had just got onto her feet and walked over to lean down on her knees beside Ai's litter; all four Shikanotoride Junior High girls had been placed down on them when they had been beamed out of the classroom on Taka-shima. She then perked as she remembered something. "Wait . . . "

"What is it, Shiho?" Aubrey asked.

The honours student turned to stare at her.

"'**United States **_**Starship**_**?**'"

The others blinked in confusion . . .

* * *

Minutes later . . .

"Oh, gods! Oh, gods! Oh, gods! OH, FREAKIN' GODS! I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!"

"Yeah, you ain't whistlin' _Dixie_ on saying that, ma'am!"

Kazumi blinked before she turned to see one of the Marines who were standing by the stairs leading down from the main observation lounge of the American starship. And it wasn't just her who had begun to gasp and scream out on taking in where they exactly were and what was presently floating close by to _Arizona_; she, Shiho, Ai and Yūka had actually been the last of their class to have been taken out of one of the materialiser rooms and moved to this place so they could fully appreciate what had happened to them. "This isn't some crazy Hollywood film set, ain't it?" she asked.

Corporal Michael Norton - who, like all the members of his old team from the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, had transferred full-time to the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit so they could serve on a starship - chuckled. "Well, if you want to learn how to float in space in a hazardous environmental suit, we could get one of the bos'n mates to get you set up. It's actually pretty cool to do that!" The Tennessee native winked at her before he gazed on one of the others from his old unit, Hospital Corpsman Second Class Scott Hensley. "Can't wait for them to make a suit for Mister Nicodemus!"

The Navy medic - who, like Norton, was dressed in a Marine duty uniform though the rate and rating badge on his left arm was proper for his true service - tried not to roll his eyes too much. "Mike, are you seriously wishing for Marilyn to give you a kick in the backside with her combat boots? You KNOW she hates it every time you propose something totally STUPID when it comes to that 'gator!"

Silence.

"'Gator?" Kazumi asked.

"He means an alligator, Fukuda," Shiho said from nearby.

More silence.

All of the rescued students were staring agog at the Marine corporal and the Navy hospital corpsman. "You guys have an ALLIGATOR?" Kurosawa Ryō demanded from his place at a table shared by all of the _Schwartz Katze_, his own dark brown eyes wide.

"As a PET?" Shimura Tetsuya added.

"Oh, hell, no!" Norton declared. "Mister Nicodemus isn't our pet!"

The students all looked at him.

"He's our friend," the Tennessean added matter-of-factly.

Still more silence.

"And he doesn't try to eat you?" Ai demanded.

"No, not at all!" Norton said. "We're based down in the south of Arizona, right near the border with Sonora. Druggies move their stuff past the post all the time. Mister Nicodemus gets to eat any of them that are dumb enough to sneak _onto_ the post!"

All of the students gaped at him, stunned to hear something so blatantly CRAZY - even from an _American_ - and then Kazumi laughed. "Oh, you had us there!" she said as she wagged her finger at Norton, who at least had the courtesy to look sheepish.

"Actually, Nicodemus prefers freshwater fish," Hensley explained. "With the odd deer, elk and bighorn sheep tossed in on occasion for a special treat."

Everyone stared at him, their jaws dropped in shock. "That's not a joke, is it?" Shiho asked, her voice barely above a squeak.

"Oh, it's no joke, Miss Matsuki," the Navy medic said. "Soon as Miss Nakagawa and her friends get here and tell you what's going on, we'll take you down to the Swamp - it's the ship's botanical gardens - and show you the big fella himself."

Everyone all gaped at him. "Nakagawa? You mean NAKAGAWA NORIKO?" Ai gasped.

"The very same girl! And a real brave one she is!" Norton said, and then he perked on hearing the door leading into the lounge open. "That you, Gunny?"

"Everyone here?" the gruff voice of one Gunnery Sergeant Steven Black called back as he walked up to join them, accompanied by five other people.

Five people the Shikanotoride Junior High students all knew on sight.

And it wasn't because of the familiar school uniforms they all were wearing.

Pictures of two of these people had been plastered over the news for the last week, after the quite unique end of the last episode of _The Program_.

The other three, they all realised, should be DEAD . . .

. . . yet definitely looked quite ALIVE!

"Holy shit . . .!" Kazumi gasped for them all.

Gazing on the last group to ever be made to participate in _The Program_, Nakagawa Noriko took a deep breath. "What are you are seeing, minna-san, is quite real," she said as she waved to Kiriyama Kazuo, Sōma Mitsuko and Kawada Shōgo. "And yes, these are really them. Spared from death by having their souls yanked out of their bodies at the very last second by someone in our hosts' home dimension ten months ago (in their timeline) to eventually force them - as well as Shūya, myself and our other classmates from Shiroiwa - into becoming child sex-slaves. Fortunately, thanks in a small part to the people who constructed these starships for the Earth of that dimension, we were able to escape it, then moved to rescue all the other _Program_ participants - all those who died as well as all those who survived - and brought them over to that dimension so that we could all have free lives." A sigh. "Due to an unforeseen complication, we had to come back here to get scans of the DNA of all the male participants of _The Program_ outside our own classmates . . . " - she waved to Shūya, Shōgo and Kazuo in emphasis - " . . . which is when we discovered your class was going to 'star' in the next episode. Our friends were happy to get you out of there; you were already put into the room that would have served as your 'homeroom' class for your 'episode.'"

"With the collars and everything else," Shōgo added.

Many of the Shikanotoride students instinctively reached for their necks on hearing that, and then they relaxed on remembering that they weren't there. "So what happens to us now?" another boy then asked.

People turned as a blonde, blue-eyed fellow came up to stand at the front of the crowd from Nagasaki. "Well, we can't realistically send you back down to your homes right now," Noriko stated before she blushed. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to sound rude, but may I ask what your name is? We normally all wear nametags on our uniforms so that we can address each other by name!" She waved to her own nametag in emphasis.

He smiled. "Aoi Takuma, Noriko-san," he said with a bow of his head, which she returned, and then he perked. "Why can't you send us back now?"

"Takuma-kun, think about it," a very pretty girl with long brown hair and dark brown eyes warned. Gazing on her, the five Shiroiwa people were quick to note how similar in stature she was to Chigusa Takako; no doubt, this woman was a sportsman of some sort. "We were about to be sucked into _The Program_, for Buddha's sake! If we show up back home and the authorities get wind of it, they'll be after us like they were after Noriko-san and Shūya-kun here." She waved to them in emphasis.

"Still, Takuma-san did ask a legitimate question, Nao-san," Tetsuya warned as he moved to adjust his reading glasses. On hearing that name, the five Shiroiwa students realised the girl that had just spoken was one of the girls Moroboshi Hiromi had mentioned on the bridge of the _Freedom_, Asakura Nao. "What will happen to us, Noriko-san? I would assume you have some plans to deal with the authorities so that we could return home if we so desired to do so. What will happen to us after that plan goes into effect?"

"Well, if what we plan works out, the government of the Republic is going to be totally decapitated," Shōgo answered. "The device - it's called the Staff of Gihan; our friend Inada Mizuho controls it - that was used to save us from being permanently dead is going to project copies of ALL the mixed emotions all of us who ever played in _The Program_ felt during our weekends trying to survive right into the brains of all the people down dirt-side who support the whole thing. There are - excluding you guys - over a hundred-and-eight thousand of us, with over sixty-six thousand of us back on their feet right now and aboard our ship over yonder." He pointed off to _Arizona_'s port, where the small arrowhead shape of the _Freedom_ was clearly visible over the rapidly darkening landscape of the Kantō region of Honshū. As the others all looked there, many of them gaping on seeing the borrowed battlewagon, Shōgo added, "As you all probably know, my dad was a doctor; I served as his scrub nurse at our clinic in Kōbe. I can describe what's going to happen to those fools who forced us into _The Program_."

"What?" Kazumi asked.

"They're going to be subjected to the input of memories that will be force-fed into their minds from somewhere they won't be able to see, much less protect themselves from," the two-time _Program_ participant from Kōbe answered. "And all those memories will come from ALL 108,822 of us who were forced to 'play.' The sensory overload will either totally burn out their brains and kill them . . . or so overwhelm them that they'll slip into permanent comas. And only the people who were a hundred percent supportive of _The Program_ - you'll find most of them in the Interior Security Ministry as well as the Central Committee AND the NADA, too! - will be targeted."

"Which means there will be no one - save whomever in the Diet that doesn't care for the whole thing, like Kyōichi-kun's father - to run the country when it's all over," Mitsuko added, a deadly smile crossing her face. "Once that happens - and we tell them what we did - the people who're left to pick up the pieces will have to make a choice: Either do away with _The Program_ and start some serious reforms . . . "

"Or we come back and hurt them worse," Shōgo finished.

"Either which way, you - unlike us - will have the freedom to decide what to do with your lives," Kazuo added. "If you wish to return to your homes and live in this dimension, we will not stand in your way. You will have the chance - so we all hope - to build a much better Japan for you and all those who were fortunate enough to permanently escape _The Program_. However, if you feel you have nothing left in this dimension to tie you down here, you can come back with us. We can arrange for what is euphemistically called a 'body-swap' - you cannot remain in another dimension without having a cloned bioroid body created there (as we now possess) - and start your lives over again on the Earth where our hosts come from." A sigh. "Sadly, all of us who have undergone this process have no choice in the matter. Even if we would want to remain in this dimension . . . "

"Very few of us do," Noriko cut in.

" . . . we simply cannot remain here anymore."

Silence fell as the Shikanotoride students considered that, and then Takuma turned to gaze on Shūya. "You really don't want to live back home?"

"No," the would-be pop music guitarist said, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Shiho demanded.

"I'm an orphan," Shūya stated. "My mother died shortly after I was born and my father - so I believe - was killed by the government. Atop that, those three days on Oki-shima made me realise that even if there were people who didn't like _The Program_ - it was my friend Shinji's aunt who got Noriko and I out of the country - too many people in Japan DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT! And they haven't done anything to stop it ever since it all started up fifty years ago! Why on Earth would I WANT to live in a country where people simply don't CARE for what happens to anyone else?" He pointed to himself. "We're all fifteen and sixteen years old! Almost all of us are the same age!" A smirk as he thumbed Shōgo. "Save for the old man here!"

"HEY!" Shōgo snapped. "Watch it, Nanahara!"

Laughter filled the room. "What Shūya - in his usual stupid, blunt male way! - is trying to say is that we do not want to LIVE in a society where our elders seem not to care a damned thing about trying to make our society better for us to inherit!" Noriko said, making many of the girls present laugh as Shūya blushed. "Ever since _The Program_ started back in 1947, people have tried to stop it, but either were brow-beaten into silence or made to be silent. So eventually, people decided it wasn't worth the effort to say anything. And in doing that . . . "

"They all condemned you - and us - to die."

Eyes locked on Takuma. "That's right, Takuma-san," Noriko said. "Within twelve hours, we're going to get the justice for what we all went through - and what you all COULD have gone through! - against those who allowed _The Program_ to go on like it did for so long. But as to what happens afterward . . . " A shake of the head. "I don't care to be honest with you. My life - ALL our lives! - are destined to continue in a much happier place. A much more peaceful Japan! The Japan that has that ship there . . . " - she waved to the _Yamato_ off _Arizona_'s starboard side - " . . . to symbolise and protect it from all the aliens who might want to threaten them."

As the people before her gaped, Noriko nodded. "Yes, that other Earth has many problems to deal with as well. They're not perfect. But they're facing those problems together. Look around you. We're on an _American_ starship." She pointed to _Haida_. "That _Canadian_ starship is the flagship of the whole Earth Defence Force." To _Yamato_. "That _Japanese_ starship is part of a squadron that includes ships from _China_ and _Korea_ as well! And there are other ships representing all the major nations on that Earth. The Earth we were all born from . . . " - she waved to her left in emphasis - " . . . is just **marking time!** The Earth we're going to live in is **moving forward!** And if I had a choice to decide which Earth I wanted to live on . . . I would choose the Earth I will soon be living on, not the one who let people like me die for no good reason."

"You have the choice," Kazuo stated. "You have something none of us who were in _The Program_ before now **_ever_** possessed. For the time being, you have to stay here for your safety. But when we verify that things are safer and you choose to stay in this dimension, we'll let you go down. If you choose to come with us, you're more than welcome to do so."

"So what do you plan to do for them now, ma'am?" Gunnery Sergeant Black asked.

"Well, if we can impose on your cooks, Gunnery Sergeant, we should get these people the chance to eat," Mitsuko stated. "Much that our replicators could give them healthy foods, they are pretty bland . . . so let's give them some real food!"

"Well, I am a little hungry," Shiho mused.

The others gazed on her, and then they all laughed . . .

* * *

Tōkyō, the Ministry of Internal Security . . .

"What . . .?"

"The Hō'ō satellites were all destroyed, Minister."

Hearing that, Tsugawa Masahiko blinked before he shook his head. "Why?"

"To blind us, sir," Anjō Gō stated. "Without those satellites, we have no means of making any close observation of that ship. Not to mention keep an eye out on any of our enemies to ensure they're not doing anything to take advantage of our distraction with that alien ship to attack us without warning. In effect, Nakagawa - or whoever is truly in charge of that ship - has made sure that we can't do anything to prepare ourselves in case they either attack us . . . or any of our enemies attack us."

The minister considered that, and then he breathed out. "How soon could such units be replaced, Major? I would assume the Space Ministry has spares."

"Hai. Two could be launched into space as soon as booster rockets are prepared. We can do that in days if we have to," Anjō assured him. "Still, there is hope in this situation. We will have, by now, captured all the parents and legal guardians to all of the people involved in Event 56-30. I'm going to call down to the offices of the Shikoku battalion of the 68th Division to confirm the status of that particular operation. I would suggest we move now to signal Nakagawa and make our demands quite plain. We still have the advantage, Minister. We must press it."

A nod. "So we will. Inform the Space Ministry to begin making calls before you check on the status of the operation in Shikoku, Anjō-san."

A deep bow. "Hai!"

* * *

The _Freedom_ . . .

"So how are the newbies doing?" Hirono asked.

"They're chowing down right now in one of _Arizona_'s cafeterias," Shōgo stated as everyone came onto the bridge of the "borrowed" battlewagon; they had beamed back from the American starship as soon as the forty-two Shikanotoride students were seated and stuffing their faces full of freshly-baked food. "We gave them the basic brief of what we're doing and what might happen to them. Now they got to make a choice."

"At least they _have_ a choice," Satomi mused.

"Hai," Noriko said.

"Noriko-san!"

Everyone turned to the person at the communications station. Noriko quickly noted it was Kiriyama Chiaki manning it. "Hai, Chiaki-san?"

"We're picking up transmissions from the Republic Space Agency's Tanega-shima space port," Chiaki reported. "They're calling out to you, Noriko-san."

"Put it on speakers."

Chiaki pressed a control. Instantly, a stern-sounding male voice echoed over the bridge, " . . . -gawa Noriko-san, this is Tanega-shima Control. Please respond. Nakagawa Noriko-san, I say again, this is Greater East Asia Republic Tanega-shima Space Control Centre. Please respond. This is an urgent call. Naka- . . . "

"Enough!"

Chiaki tapped a control to cut the feed. "Aren't you going to answer the phone, Nori?" Mitsuko asked, an amused look on her face.

The _ashi'cha_ of the _Program_ participants shook her head. "No." She then paused before smiling at the former child prostitute. "I'm going to tease them."

Mitsuko gaped. "'TEASE them?'" she parroted her friend, and then she laughed. "Oh, my heavens! She leans! Can you believe it, Hiro? She learns!"

"I'm still shocked that Miss Straight-Lace here actually said _that_, Mitsu!" Hirono said as many of the people on the bridge - save for the still silently-meditating Mizuho - began to snicker and laugh. "Talk to me again in another month!"

More laughter. "You guys . . .!" a blushing Noriko moaned, and then she sighed. Much that she hated people laughing at her, she knew Mitsuko and Hirono didn't do it to be really mean; the two former child prostitutes had long grown out of _that_ mode of behaviour. "Kazuo-kun, what's the maximum range of a Kairyū missile?"

"Approximately 12,000 kilometres."

"Is that the longest-range missile the Republic has?"

"No, the Sanryū missile launched by the Republic Army from ground silos all across the Home Islands has a maximum range of 15,000 kilometres," Kazuo stated. "However, if you intend to move the ship out of their range in case they decide to fire upon us - so that we do not bring accidental harm to anyone - I can tell you that we would only have to increase our current altitude to 5,000 kilometres over Tōkyō."

"Uh, Boss! That's still within the range of those fuckin' things!" Mitsuru warned.

"Mitsuru, please remember these are BALLISTIC missiles, not missiles designed to fire directly into space," Kazuo stated. "The Kairyū and Sanryū systems are not like the Saturn V rockets that took American astronauts to the Moon three decades ago. While they are all extraordinarily fast as flying objects come, they do not have the ability to achieve true ESCAPE VELOCITY from the planet's gravity field." As the others stared at him, he added, "In other words, a ballistic missile attack may be able to strike deeper into space than what they are designed to fly at – the nominal range is 1,200 kilometres - but they must either HIT something . . . or else fall back to the Earth."

"And 5,000 kilometres . . .?" Shōgo began.

"Is well above their maximum altitude potential," Kazuo finished.

"So they can try to shoot us . . .?" Hirono began.

"And never reach us," Kazuo finished for her. "We can then use the weapons on board this ship to destroy the missiles coming at us before they can hurt anyone else."

The others on the bridge nodded. "Chiaki-san, send a signal to our friends that we're moving to a higher orbit than we're at now and advise them to do the same to make sure they don't accidentally get spotted even if they did raise radar-jamming screens to keep themselves cloaked," Noriko then stated. "Once that's done, we move the ship."

"Hai, Noriko-san! Right away," Chiaki said . . .

* * *

Tōkyō, the Ministry of Internal Security, a half-hour later . . .

"The ship is moving AWAY from the planet?"

"Hai," Sanada Mikiya stated as he bowed his head to the older man before him. "The ship is still maintaining its stationary orbit over Tōkyō, but it is increasing altitude above mean sea level. We don't know how far . . . but given that Kiriyama Kazuo - whom, as you might know, is the son of a major defence contractor investor, one who actually earned his fortune in the company that constructed the Yamato-class submarines - is now aboard that ship, they will most likely move to an altitude which will make any attempts at attacking it by either submarine-launched missiles or land-based missiles totally useless. That would be a minimum of 4,200 kilometres over mean sea level, Minister." He then sighed. "Nakagawa-san has effectively blinded us. And she has also denied us the chance to strike directly at her if we so chose to do that."

"But we can still hurt her, Sanada-kun. And her friends," Tsugawa stated. "Anjō-kun should be coming back in a few minutes with the report on the Shikoku operation to locate and detain all the relatives of the players in Event 56-30."

The commander nodded. "True, sir. But . . . "

"But what?"

"What if Nakagawa and her friends don't care?"

Silence.

"What . . .?"

"What if they simply don't care if their relatives live or die?"

More silence.

"That's ridiculous!" Tsugawa snapped. "To deny one's family is something that is NEVER to be done! Our culture doesn't allow that sort of thing!"

"It may be not so ridiculous, Minister," Sanada advised before he took a deep breath. "Much that I do not wish to sound as if I am questioning the policies of the Central Committee, but ordering young teenagers to KILL each other is something our culture has traditionally never allowed either. Especially during a time of civil peace and order. Yes, such things did happen during the times before the Tokugawa gained power and finally united the nation under the Sons of Heaven . . . but those times were acknowledged as times of civil war, when the rules of peace are cast aside in the pursuit of victory over a foe. _The Program_ - and again, I do not wish to sound as if I am disagreeing with the policy behind it - happens and has been happening in a time when our country is totally at peace and advancing forward both technologically and socially. We do not advocate that children become delinquents . . . and yet, if you think about it, almost every week since Year Three, we force an average of forty such children at a time to completely disregard what they've been taught all their lives to prove who is the strongest. And put them in a situation where they will have to face a life-or-death decision as we could have done hadn't the Greater East Asia War ultimately gone so well in our favour."

Still more silence.

"So what are you saying?" the minister inquired.

"I'm saying that there is a chance - a very good chance - that Nakagawa and her friends simply no longer CARE for anything that ties them to the Republic. And yes, that will include their bonds to their families. As you probably know, there've been many psychological studies done on _Program_ participants and how they might react to being subjected to what we demand of them. That goes hand-in-hand with all the prepatory intelligence work the Ministry does on prospective players when they predict how the outcome of a particular event might evolve. Granted, we haven't had the chance to follow-up on such studies thanks to what Nakagawa and whoever is supporting her ultimately did to all of the winners of the various events . . . but I believe there is a very strong chance that those kids up there on that ship now feel one very dangerous emotion." As Tsugawa blinked, Sanada said, "Hate."

The older man considered that, and then he asked. "Of us?"

"Certainly. After all, during the events, none of the NADA soldiers assigned as episode support never dare go out into the playing areas for fear of being shot dead by a player. It would be a perfect way of striking back at the system that - in their eyes - condemned them to die or become murderers," the former submariner explained. "But given what might have happened to all of _The Program_ players, I think something more has happened, Minister. I think that, when they were given a chance to sit back and think about it - and given that we now theorise that some type of time travel was involved in getting all the living players out of the country to wherever their base camp was located (especially with the fact that the currently LATEST group of players appear to be in charge of that ship, they would have had a chance to do just that - they eventually decided that everything they had associated with before their participation in _The Program_ . . . should be rejected outright. Their country, their values, their communities . . . and perhaps, even their families."

Tsugawa blinked, and then his face turned very pale as one potential implication of Sanada's theory reared its head. "They've become _**anarchists**_ . . .?"

"Perhaps," Sanada said, nodding. "But I believe they won't go that far. After all, there is a sort of command structure on that ship." A sigh. "Anjō-kun might be able to explain this better; he is a student of land warfare history and his specialty at the Army War College was analysing the psychology of the soldiers involved in the First World War, especially in the trenches of France and Belgium." As the minister waved his hand to prompt the former submariner to continue, Sanada stated, "In the West, there is a saying among combat soldiers. I believe it goes something like this: 'The closer you get to the front lines, the friendlier things become.' During the First World War - especially when the Christmas holiday came around - there were often informal truces extended between the opposing trenches to allow the soldiers a chance to get together, exchange greetings and allow the pressures of the conflict to go away, even for just a day. After all, the private soldiers fighting in that war had no understanding of why they were being forced to kill the people on the other side of No Man's Land. In an odd way, _The Program_ elicits the same sort of situation. And now that we believe that ALL _Program_ participants are alive and well, those who were former enemies in the various events have now come together as friends and even **_allies_** in a united cause. And they now see everything that effectively forced them into _The Program_ as their enemies." A sigh. "While I hope the operation in Shikoku is successful, I fear we may have forced those kids past the point where they just don't care. You might be right, Minister. They may have become anarchists . . . "

A knock at the door. "Minister!"

"Enter!" Tsugawa called out.

The door opened to reveal Anjō Gō. The Army major looked quite pale. "Sir," he said, bowing to the older man in the room, and then he declared, "We just received a report from Zentsūji. The operation into Shiroiwa to capture the relatives and legal guardians of the players in Event 56-30 is a total failure, sir."

Tsugawa bolted up. "_**WHAT?**_"

"We're just getting the initial reports now, sir," Anjō stated. "The Shikoku Battalion commander, Colonel Katō, didn't learn this until about a half-hour ago, sir. The two companies sent into Shiroiwa to retrieve the relatives and legal guardians of the players in Event 56-30 . . . were slaughtered to the very last man!"

Stunned silence fell over the room. "Shot?" Sanada then asked.

Anjō shook his head. "No!" He took a deep breath. "Even though I thought that the colonel's aide had been drinking when he said this to me, none of those who were killed were shot. By the appearances of the corpses that have been found by the local police so far - and I'm having the prefecture police look into it now to verify everything - it appears they were all attacked by very highly trained martial artists. Snapped necks, mostly, not to mention high-impact blows on potentially fatal strike zones on the human body. What sort of weapon wounds we did find came from either arrows shot from bows or else edged weapons such as knives and swords. But not a single gunshot wound!"

Sanada slowly nodded. "Whoever is support Nakagawa then . . . "

"Still, it was a sound plan altogether," Anjō stated. "And we could still do it with all the relatives of all the other _Program_ event players! We could round them all up, hold them prisoner at gunpoint and then send a signal up to Nakagawa demanding she surrender! We would force her crew to mutiny against her and her friends!"

"Oh, be realistic, Gō!" Sanada then snapped as he glared at his co-worker. "We're talking about over THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND people here! Taking ALL of them into custody is the WORST thing we could do in this case!" He pointed out the windows of the minister's office at the great city beyond the gates of the Internal Security Ministry headquarters building. "Not only will it totally press the resources of the 68th Division well past its limits, it will make a lot of people across the Republic start questioning what's going on! We don't DO that sort of thing without explaining the reason why to keep the people calm! What sort of explanation could we give here? That young children - almost all of whom should be DEAD! - have somehow come back to LIFE, seized control of ALIEN technology and may now be threatening the integrity of the Republic? It wouldn't take many of the people out there more than a minute to realise what's going on and why's it happening! Despite what all the 'talking heads' on DHK say about public support for _The Program_, we KNOW the truth of how people out there feel about it! If Nakagawa vowed to destroy everything related to _The Program_ to protect future generations of would-be 'players,' the whole COUNTRY would rise up to support her! Where would WE be in the wake of . . .?"

"**_ENOUGH!_**"

Sanada blinked, and then he bowed his head. "I apologise, sir."

"No need. You've made a valid point," Tsugawa stated, and then he moved to sink back into his chair. Gazing at him, Sanada was quick to note the frustration and the uncertainty of what they were all facing etched deeply on his face. "So what does this say to your theory about the morale and attitudes of those children on that ship, Sanada-kun?" he then asked as he gazed on the former submariner and now intelligence officer.

Sanada took a moment to consider that, and then he took a deep breath. "It could mean that they still have deep and profound feelings for their parents and wish them safe, plus let them know they are alive and well. This could also apply to the relatives of all the other _Program_ players. But as I just told Anjō-san, if we tried the same tactic on them, it would be beyond the abilities of the 68th Division to properly administer without instituting some sort of mass panic among the citizens of the Republic. That, I believe, we would not want under any circumstances."

"Yes, that is true," Tsugawa said with a nod. "Any other ideas, Sanada-kun?"

"It could also mean that they simply don't care about them, but do not wish them to suffer any physical harm in return," Sanada stated. "In effect, they are still angry at their parents for their 'failure' at stopping _The Program_ before they were drawn into it . . . but wish them to suffer emotionally for what their failure to act ultimately cost them. In other words, they wish only to deliver their full revenge on their chosen true targets. Namely, all those who support or work for _The Program_. Look at who was killed now as Anjō-san just reported: Members of the 68th Division, where only people who passionately support _The Program_ are allowed to become a part of."

Tsugawa blinked, and then he shuddered as one particular outcome of that theory came to him. "Are you saying they might target ME?" he demanded.

"They may target EVERYONE that supports _The Program_, Minister," Sanada warned. "That would also include everyone on the Central Committee, not to mention the senior department heads in almost every ministry in the government. And if that happens to be true . . . " He then turned away to gaze out at the evening scene over Tōkyō. "Then in a way, Nakagawa-san and her friends are true anarchists, Minister. And they may have the power to actually pull off such a thing if we don't protect ourselves right away. I can't accurately guess same and with the loss of the Hō'ō satellites, we can't spy on them further to try to watch them and learn what they're up to. And since they refuse to answer the Space Ministry's calls to them, then we can't ascertain what they're doing through voice analysis."

"So what do they want, Mikiya-kun?" Anjō asked.

The Navy officer took a deep breath. "I strongly fear that they wish to destroy EVERYTHING that has kept this country together and strong for the last fifty years and more, Gō-kun. Why manoeuvre so tantalisingly out of range of our missiles just now? Why destroy the Navy's ELF transmitter at Kairōji earlier today? In effect . . . " He turned to gaze on the other men currently in the room. "I think they want us to feel exactly like they themselves must have felt during their particular events . . . "

"Being?" Tsugawa asked.

"Totally helpless."

Both Tsugawa and Anjō exchanged looks, and then the minister seemed to deflate in his chair. Gazing at him, Sanada sighed before pulling out a pack of cigarettes and drawing one out to put into his mouth; while the minister himself smoked quite a bit, it was normally seen as proper to ask his permission before lighting up.

Given the current situation though, Sanada felt it could be excused . . .

. . . for little did he realise how prophetic his words were . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	24. Judgement Day

The _Haida_, the flag officer's quarters . . .

"So you're saying that there's actually little difference between our dimensions. Thus, we're actually living in what would better addressed as an 'alternate timeline' in lieu of a parallel dimension. What exactly is the difference?"

Hiromi chuckled before sipping her tea. "The difference, Mister President - in my eyes - is merely semantics, a choice of words. However, others - both on Sagussa in the past and on my Earth recently - have come to accept this as the qualifying distinction between them: Parallel dimensions demonstrate a noticeable difference in _physical_ star and/or planetary patterns between them, which would immediately induce different lifeform development. The Federation's universe we just visited before coming to yours is a parallel dimension by that definition; races such as the Klingons, the Vulcans and the others you saw on _Star Trek_ do not exist in my dimension at the equivalent locations they are in the Federation's universe. Alternate timelines - as they theoretically begin from a divergence at a critical point in history, such as the difference between the attacks on Pearl Harbour in 1941 in my dimension in comparison to yours - have the effective same stellar pattern and planetary distribution patterns. Which your universe and mine share." She sat back in her chair. "As we speak, one of _Haida_'s Star Flare warp shuttles is currently making a reconnaissance of Neptune to ascertain what is happening there. In my universe, a hominoid race arose on that planet, though they were eventually forced to de-camp to Triton due to an industrially-induced ecological disaster a thousand years ago. Once we get the report of what is here . . . "

"It'll give you solid evidence as to what might be around us," the American President stated as he sat back in his chair at the White House. Tom Kazanski had loaned the Arkansan native a dataPADD with communications capabilities so that he could stay in touch with the Earth Defence Force squadron over Japan and learn what else was happening concerning _The Program_ survivors and their move to effectively topple the Greater East Asia Republic; of course, when the extra-dimensional visitors left, the dataPADD would be retrieved. "If it turns out to be the same - and given what Captain Kazanski and Captain Kerner told us about how things are like in your local galactic neighbourhood - which power should we turn to whenever a 'first contact' with any of those races happens?"

"I would personally say Noukiios," Hiromi answered. "Their closest colony - in my universe - to this solar system is the fourth world of Alpha Centauri A as we address it. They call it '_Teng-ch'ehek_;' it's more universally called 'Tengsei.' If the history of the Imperial Dominion is the same here as it is in my dimension, the colony will possess a very hardy frontier population as your own noble United States possessed in the wake of the Civil War, then migrating onto the Great Plains - without the need to deal with a tragic clash of cultures their moving into the territories of the aboriginal tribes in that part of your vast republic ultimately unleashed - which is supported by a very old and stable culture that has stood the test of time united for five millennia. Save for a millennia-long period where there was a clear fraction between three separate factions . . . but that ended long ago in Noukiite history."

"What about these Urusians the Neptunians - if they are there - are allied with?" the Vice-President then added. "They were the ones to make the first 'open contact' with Earth a year ago in your time period." Both men had revealed to the reborn emperor that there existed a Special Committee on Alien Activities - the ubiquitous "Men in Black" - as a hidden organisation in the United Nations (though neither could reveal to the reborn emperor about the amount of races the SCAA had on record as such was always kept top secret outside of their offices in New York City). They had also confirmed the existence of magical societies all across Earth, though such groups in the Far East were even more removed from their mundane neighbours as was the case in Europe due to the right-wing militarist radicalisation of the surround mundane societies. "Would they be a good group of people to deal with?"

"I . . . personally cannot answer that question, Mister Vice-President," Hiromi mused. "Part of it, I fear, stems from the history that my siblings and I experienced when we were forced to deal constantly with Onii-san's would-be 'wife.' Part of it also stems from the Urusians' flat-out acceptance of the Niphentaxians - who I PRAY have not established their so-called 'Church of Lum' in this dimension, much less so enslaved the Avalonians as they were in my dimension - without trying to put some controls on them. The Galactic Federation of Planet-States was founded on some very high and well-minded ideals. They did not live up to them, preferring to allow the necessities of galactic _realpolitik_ to rule their decisions time and time again."

"The Tag Race, you mean," the President stated.

"Aye."

A whistle echoed through the room. "Ops to Director."

"One moment, please," Hiromi said to the two men in the White House, and then she tapped a control on her desk. "Director. What is the matter, Michelle-san?"

"Ma'am, the _Welland_ just came back from her recon of Neptune," Michelle Anderson stated. "It's virtually the same as it is in our dimension, ma'am. Abandoned cities and really bad levels of industrial pollution from the surface of Neptune all the way up to the nominal edge of liveable atmosphere. Triton is as inhabited as it is back home. We even picked up the trace energies of the Central Warp Chamber, too."

"Ah, so we prove more things the more we're here. Very well, then. Land the _Welland_ and allow the crew to rest for a while. As soon as practicable, I would desire a second reconnaissance, this one in the direction of Tengsei."

"Aye, ma'am! I'll pass it on to Colonel Sullivan."

"End call," Hiromi said as she cut the link with the operations room. "Well, that's a good sign," she then stated to the two men in Washington. "Even if they are allied with the Urusians in my dimension, the Neptunians are a peacefully-minded people. And they suffer from the fact that their homeworld is so unliveable. We are moving to help correct that problem in our universe with Noukiite and Yehisrite assistance. Perhaps - if any sort of 'first contact' happens here - it might happen sooner here." A shrug. "Or it may happen at the very same time it did back home."

"When was the first meeting with the Urusians?" the President asked.

"They came to my family home on Tuesday, the fourteenth of July in 2009."

"Well, we'll have some years to prepare for it then," the Vice-President said.

"And may you be prepared for it better than . . . "

A whistle. "Hiromi."

"Excuse me," the reborn emperor said before tapping a control to open up a link to wherever Negako was currently calling from. "What is it, Onē-sama?"

"I am in Tomobiki right now."

Silence.

"_**ON**__**Ē**__**-SAMA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?**_" Hiromi shrilled out as both men in Washington gaped at this unbelievable show of chutzpah on the part of Hiromi's sister.

"Be calm, Hiromi," Negako sternly stated. "You do not need to shout, even if it is well past nightfall and the streets are empty of people, including personnel from the local detachment of the 68th Home Defence Operations Division assigned to patrol Nishitōkyō. I am just a block away from the counterpart to our family home."

Hiromi blinked. "And . . .?"

"What happened to us will happen here, too," the ninjutsu grandmaster stated. "I can sense my counterpart currently in the mind of Ataru's counterpart. His own soul has been fractured to allow Tariko's counterpart to develop. And there is the magatama bearing the soul of your past-self's counterpart with him at this time. I would assume that - given he has just passed his seventh birthday in April - he had visited the Sagussa in this dimension about a year ago or so." A pause, and then she added, "There will be a small complication in our counterparts' lives in the future."

Hiromi tensed. "How so?"

"Both Muchi's and Kinshō's counterparts here are quite avid supporters of _The Program_. From what I can sense of their ki, they began expressing such feelings in the wake of Kaeru's death. In fact - though it hasn't led to any instances of abuse, either physical or emotional, delivered against Ataru - they may actually welcome his participation in a future episode of _The Program_. If that is true, come tomorrow morning . . . "

"Our counterparts will be effectively orphaned," Hiromi finished.

"Hai."

"Oh, dear God!" the President breathed out; he and his electoral running-mate had overhead everything the director of the Earth Defence Force had just discussed with his sister. "Madame Moroboshi, is there any way we can help your counterparts?"

"Your offer is generous, William, but I believe there is a more practical solution available to us concerning my family's counterparts here," Negako answered, making the President blush at her use of his first given name, which made him feel like a schoolboy back in southwest Arkansas. "That will depend on the results of whatever reconnaissance of Alpha Centauri carried out by the pilots of 32 Squadron will produce. Hiromi, when will the next reconnaissance flight occur?"

"The _Welland_ just returned from scouting out Triton," Hiromi reported. "It's virtually the same as back home, so it would be easy to believe without verifying same that most noble Noukiios and her colonies will be the same as well. I've ordered that the crew rest up before making a deeper probe towards Alpha Centauri." She then blinked before looking the part of the table where the communication unit linking her now to her sister was located. "Onē-sama, are you actually proposing that . . .?"

"If her counterpart here is exactly like she is back in our home dimension and timeline, she would be a most agreeable stepmother in this case," Negako mused.

Hiromi hummed. "True . . . "

* * *

Meanwhile, on a moon of the eighth planet of the solar system . . .

"L-l-Lady K-k-K'ekh-h-hech . . .!"

"I am she. Heaven's most sincere blessings upon you, Minister of the Gates."

Hearing that formal mode of address from this young free warrior of one of the local cluster's most powerful interplanetary states, the aged Neptunian official - his proper title in the government of the Kingdom of Neptune was "Master of the Chamber;" the successful and continuous operation of the Central Warp Chamber that had saved his race from extinction ages ago was his primary responsibility - tried not to blush. It was hard, though. Despite the youth of the Lady Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech - the girl had just turned twenty, which was when Noukiites of her particular sub-caste were granted the right to be given a "sacred true bone name;" the woman before him having taken the old style title of her famous namesake from the Tri-Kingdoms period - she had already started to make quite the reputation for herself in fighting many faces and heels of You-Know-Where whenever they ended up travelling to other planets for one insane reason or another. To have the "Dragonspeaker" - as the Lady K'ekhech was commonly called amongst her native people - standing HERE on Triton was quite a unique circumstance.

He then caught himself before he bowed to her. "Forgive me, Lady K'ekhech. Heaven's most sincere blessings upon you as well," he greeted her in return, and then he paused before finally forcing himself to ask, "Why are you here?"

"I must go to Earth," she reported. "There is a potential incident happening there that will require my attention." She then gave him a fatigued look. "And I am somewhat tired from my last confrontation with several heels from Yiziba . . . "

He shrieked out. "_**MY LADY! DO NOT SAY THAT NAME!**_"

" . . . so I cannot teleport myself to Earth on my own," she finished, clearly unbothered by his scream of fright, and then she reached into the flap of her jacket to pull out a small bag of coins. "Will this be enough to allow a one-way transport to Earth, plus ensure this incident is not reported to anyone outside Triton should someone one day come to ask about it?"

The elderly chamber-master blinked, and then he opened the bag to look inside it. Gaping at the number of gold-pressed latinum bars that were there and quickly converting what he saw into local currency, he then nodded. "Yes, my lady. This is more than sufficient." He then took a deep breath as he moved to put on his "business" face. Using the Chamber like this was not normally allowed for outworlders, but if they were willing to pay for it - and clearly, She Who Speaks to Dragons had the means to pay quite a lot for it - then business could be conducted without hesitation as long as the basic rules about the Chamber were followed; in other words, people didn't use the wormhole to start an invasion of another planet. "Where exactly do you wish to go?"

"Bring up an image of the islands of Nihon and I will show you."

He blinked. Neptunians as a whole didn't watch over their in-system neighbours as much as Urusians did, but he wasn't totally ignorant of what was happening on Earth, especially THAT part of the planet! "Is it safe for you, my lady?"

"I will not be harmed. It is night time on that part of Earth, so my presence there will not be noticed as long as the proper precautions are taken. By tomorrow evening in that part of Earth, I will have recovered enough energy to leave and return to Oku-ch'ehek without problems. Now, may I see the image of Nihon?"

He blinked, and then nodded as he turned on his terminal screen . . .

* * *

Tomobiki, near the Moroboshi home, that moment . . .

_Hiromi must learn to better control her emotions_, Negako mused to herself as she crouched on the roof of the empty house to the north of the property that was owned by her family's counterparts in this universe. And like in her home dimension, the house here had been owned by the Ryōki family until the disappearance of their only son, Kōsei. In Negako's home dimension, that came about thanks to agents of the Information Service of Earth's out-spin neighbours, the Ipraedies Empire, in 2001, eight years before the Tag Race. In this dimension, it had clearly occurred thanks to circumstances that strongly related to how the Greater East Asia Republic dealt with rebellious citizens.

She then tensed on sensing an old yet familiar ki pattern approach. "Hayao."

"It is you . . .!"

She turned to gaze on a diminutive and aged figure now standing two metres away. Despite the advanced aging that this fellow possessed in comparison to the man Negako herself knew of in her home dimension, the clothes and the general demeanour were still the same. "Greetings, Hayao. I am not the one you seek, but a counterpart of her from an alternate timeline. Sit and rest yourself for a while; I can sense you have not eaten much in the last couple of days. Why is it you seek my counterpart?"

Sakurambō Hayao - "Cherry" to those who knew him best - blinked on hearing that declaration, and then he sighed. "A personal desire to see my niece be well, Negako-sama . . . if you call yourself that as the Steel Angels called your counterpart here back during the Taishō era," he said as he moved to sit beside her.

"What is the matter with Sakura?"

Immediately sensing that this unbelievable creature - whom he had once viewed as a horrible monster until he learned what REAL monsters were like - understood much about his family relations as well as events here, Cherry took a deep breath. "She is very ill and has been for some years now. Ever since the man she loved died in an anti-government protest his school launched due to the participation of some of their classmates in _The Program_." He closed his eyes. "He actually lived in the house we are now sitting on. A good friend of his was forced to 'play' in that barbarity and died during her particular 'episode.' The reaction of Kōsei and his friends . . . was quite violent, as was the government's response to their protest. Fortunately, Sakura had been absent from the school for some time, so she did not suffer their fate. But she suffers for it even to this day." He then bowed his head. "And as she continues to suffer, I began to look for any way to help her. Until I remembered you . . . or rather, your counterpart that lives on this Earth. I felt your presence from my encampment close to the shrine where my sister once worked as a miko . . . "

"You are fortunate, Hayao," Negako gently cut in. "My counterpart is currently within the subconscious mind of the young man who lives in the residence we are now looking at: Moroboshi Ataru. If the history of my counterpart is the same as my own, Ataru is the fifty-seventh person to have taken up the Promise of Bunka Go-nen." She then blinked before she gazed at him. "I suspect the government is not aware of her. Given what I have heard befell Emperor Hirohito . . . " - the ninjutsu grandmaster, while always respectful of the various Children of Heaven, didn't particular care about the use of posthumous era names; she always spoke of them with their birth names if she was aware of them - " . . . and his family in 1945, she will have probably done all to ensure all known physical records of her existence would have been destroyed before those she might view as quite disagreeable may have discovered her existence, then moved to make use of her as a special weapon to press their own political goals."

"Then how did you gain your own body?" Cherry wondered.

"Through a very highly advanced form of artificial organic body cloning developed on a world many light-years away from Earth. In my dimension, we were able to gain access to such technology almost a year ago in my timeline . . . "

Negako then blinked as she sensed something warp the very air close to her, and then her eyes narrowed as she scanned the surrounding ki fields to locate where the opening in the veil of space and time was coming in. She then turned to gaze down into the house below her, and then she somersaulted onto her feet, moving to slide down to the open balcony of Ryōki Kōsei's old bedroom. A tap of the finger allowed the window latch to break, thus permitting her to slide the panel open . . . just as a very cold breeze seemed to blow through the dusty room from the direction of the linen closet. After taking a quick chance to examine what was happening behind the closet doors with her ki senses, Negako could only shake her head as she opened it . . . thus letting a mini-avalanche of snow cascade over the floor. "The Neptunians must learn to clean their chamber before they allow people to transit through the wormhole," she mused to herself as she then looked on the person now stepping through the warp from the Neptunian moon over two billion kilometres away. "Greetings, Kyech. Come inside and be comfortable. I would assume one of your ch'uokyek friends suggested you come to this world."

Kyech gazed at her, her eyebrow arching in surprise . . .

* * *

Nagano, the Matsushiro Republic Special Headquarters site, approaching dawn . . .

"So we are safe here?"

"Hai, Senior Chairman Mori," Sanada Mikiya said as he bowed respectfully to the Senior Chairman of the Central Committee of the Greater East Asia Republic, the effective head-of-state/government of the nation that had once been called "the Empire of Japan" before rogue Nazis had killed the Shōwa Emperor - and even worse, killing the Crown Prince Akihito AND all other potential immediate relations who could have helped raise a new Son of Heaven to assume the Chrysanthemum Throne - and forced the surviving leaders of the nation onto a new and radically different course. "As you are all aware, the existence of this facility has been kept top secret from the general population. None of the known or suspected dissidents know of this place, so those people such as Mimura Shinji-san would not know of it. We believe that the Americans and the Russians might know of this place, but this location has been constructed and re-enforced in such a way that a direct nuclear missile strike would hardly cause us harm. And I doubt that - even if Nanahara Shūya-san and Nakagawa Noriko-san did manage to escape to America before they appeared on that ship - the American CIA would tell them of this place."

"Furthermore, we have supplies down here to last us for months if required," Anjō Gō added. The staff at the Ministry of Internal Security had handled the evacuation of the Central Committee, the senior department heads of all the vital ministries and the high-ranked military staff of both the Navy and the Army to this location from Tōkyō and its environs over the last five hours, moving everyone by unmarked car and night train to Matsushiro without anyone being the wiser. "Plus there are many connecting tunnels that lead to special emergency exits in many locations; should the main entrance be caved in, we can still remove ourselves from this place when the danger is past and we can return everything back to normal."

The elderly politician nodded, clearly satisfied by the two officers' reports. "Good. Much that I don't mind practicing these safety measures, I prefer not to stay in this place more than necessary. In the meantime, Masahiko-san, would you please care to explain to us all why is it people that are supposed to be DEAD are alive and now aboard an ALIEN ship threatening the safety and security of our Republic?"

At his place at the central table, Tsugawa Masahiko took a deep breath. "First of all, my friends, I must apologise to all of you for the terrible inconvenience this incident has forced on you today," he said as he bowed deeply to the others in the room. "I must confess, as soon as we discovered the presence of the dissidents Nakagawa and Nanahara - or whom we believe are Nakagawa and Nanahara - as well as all those from Event 56-30 and other events who should be DEAD, we came to realise things that we never had reason to suspect before. And which have now come to potentially threaten us in a way we've never been threatened before. But I am hopeful that even if we will be damaged by this, the Republic will endure and become stronger."

"How is it possible that people who are DEAD are suddenly ALIVE again?" the Chief Cabinet Secretary - he served as the Senior Chairman's number-two man and his official spokesmen in his absence at Central Committee meetings - demanded. "Are we really sure that the people on this ship ARE the actual _Program_ players from Event 56-30 and the other events?"

"No, we are not a hundred percent sure about that, Yasuo-san," Tsugawa stated. "We have tried to communicate with the alien ship - especially in the wake of the destruction of the Hō'ō satellite system and the Navy's Kairōji ELF facility in China - but they have not answered us. We believe if we could talk to them - and get the chance to analyse their speech patterns - we could make a much better determination. However, it appears that Nakagawa - or whoever the strange woman not in school uniform we spotted on that ship via the Hō'ō system - have anticipated quite a bit since they came here. Your aides have all briefed you on what happened in Shiroiwa late yesterday evening," he then said as he gazed on the others in the room. Noting the nods of his comrades - that sort of information-sharing between people at their level of government was expected; it made sure the Republic's leaders were as thoroughly informed of events as possible to ensure a quick and united response to potential threats - he then stated, "Then you must all realise what could have happened if we ordered the NADA to take prisoner all the living relatives to all of the other _Program_ players. Much that I will not say anything to insult the skills of those loyal men, they have limits to their uses . . . "

"And we don't wish to have a panic on our hands, to say anything of a Republic-wide revolt in support of these stupid children," the Minister of Defence Support - the man who was in charge of all civilian support to all armed services in the Republic, including the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army that served as the armed shock troops of the Internal Security Ministry - then stated.

"Hai, Kazuo-san," the internal security minister affirmed with a nod.

"Can we find some way to attack that ship with our strategic warheads?" the Minister of Education - he was the man who helped Internal Security select schools and classes to participate in _The Program_ - then asked.

"I'm afraid that's now impossible, Tadamori-san," the Army Minister - who, in a tradition that stemmed from before the Greater East Asia War, was an actual serving general in the Republic Army - stated. "Just before we were asked by Masahiko-san to come here, the alien ship elevated its altitude to 5000 kilometres above sea level, maintaining its position directly over downtown Tōkyō. Due to the specific nature of ballistic missiles - that since they are designed to fly only so high before gravity pulls them back to Earth - she is effectively out of reach of either the land-based Sanryū system or the sea-based Kairyū system." He nodded to the admiral who served as Minister of the Navy, who nodded to confirm the general's statement. "If Nakagawa-san did not do that, we could have struck her from either the silos in Hokkaidō or Okinawa . . . or from submarines near the Carolina Islands. Such would have resulted in a potential electro-magnetic pulse incident, but nothing we could have not recovered from."

"So given the current situation - and what we DO know about the ship and those aboard it - what exactly do we think will happen?" the Senior Chairman asked.

"We believe that those children will launch an all-out attack against all elements of the government populated by people who are firm supporters of _The Program_, Senior Chairman," Tsugawa stated. "In other words, all of us, not to mention the troops of the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army and those senior elements of all the government ministries that support the continuation of _The Program_ in any way, shape or form. That is the reason I ordered all units of the NADA into their 'secret' bases - save, unfortunately, for the team now on Taka-shima helping organise Event 56-31 - to shelter them from potential space attack. Now, will this guarantee that they will survive such an attack? I cannot say. We don't, unfortunately, know what that ship's capabilities exactly are. If we base it on the example of what happened at Kairōji earlier today, we would be dealing with a massive conventional attack akin to something launched by an American, British or French aircraft carrier battle group."

"But what if they have nuclear - or worse! - type of ordinances?" the Minister of Trade and Industry then demanded. "Are we prepared to have THAT happen to us?"

"If they did, Takeo-san, I doubt Nakagawa would use such weapons."

"What is your proof?" the Senior Chairman asked.

"We don't have actual proof, sir. We have a theory, part of which has been proven by the events in Shiroiwa," Tsugawa answered. "Yes, Nakagawa and all her friends are quite angry at us and wish to take revenge on us for what they were forced to endure in _The Program_. But they clearly still possess feelings for their family; why save them from the NADA if they didn't have such feelings? That could translate into their not ultimately wanting to press their vengeance against what they would perceive as innocent people, victims of the 'evil' Republic that condemned them to die and suppress the good people of Japan from expressing their true thoughts and beliefs. We just have to be strong, sir. Strong and fearless in the face of this potential threat. If we hold back and wait for Nakagawa and her friends to expend themselves, we could then move in, eliminate them AND seize what technology that ship possesses for ourselves."

"You don't consider them to be such anarchists that they wouldn't care what we might have done to their relatives," the Chief Cabinet Secretary mused.

"No, we don't, Yasuo-san."

"You better be right, Masahiko-kun," the Senior Chairman stated. "If you're wrong, we all may be destroyed by it . . . and the Republic with us."

The others in the room grimly nodded . . .

* * *

Taka-shima, just after dawn . . .

"Ohayō gozaimasu, Sakamochi-san."

A yawn escaped Sakamochi Kinpatsu as he pulled himself up from the cot he had been using to sleep on. "Osu!" the field director said, nodding greetings to the sergeant who had spoken to him. "Is everyone up and ready to let the kids play?"

"We got up at first light, sir," the sergeant said. "Breakfast is ready. I had Private Yamada go down to check on the classroom and the players."

"Ah, excellent!" Sakamochi said as he stood up and stretched himself before he moved to pick up his field bag - he was used to "camping out" at various schools that were used as bases for _Program_ episodes, so he knew what to do when it came to making himself fresh and smart before presenting himself to the little warriors at homeroom class - and then he moved to make his way down to the washroom to prepare himself.

Just as he stepped outside the door of the office, a scream echoed from the stairwell leading up to the second floor. Before Sakamochi could think of what on Earth that was, the sergeant leaned out of the doorway. "That's Yamada!"

He quickly ran over to the stairwell, bounding up two steps at a time. Sakamochi remained in place as most of the other field team camp soldiers raced off after him, and then he shook his head and he turned to walk smartly down the hallway. _Damn it! Someone must have died overnight! I always keep telling the Ministry that we need more personnel to man the watch in the night before homeroom class, but they never listen to me!_ He started up the stairs. _I hope it was only one of them! It would be such a pain to deal with more than one dead body before they're allowed to play . . .!_

"Sakamochi-san! Get up here!"

The field director jolted on hearing that, and then he raced up the stairs - he wasn't a trained soldier, so he couldn't move as fast as the spry lads of the NADA could - as quick as he could, stopping at the top of the stairwell to see all the soldiers standing at the open doorway to the classroom selected to be "homeroom" for Event 56-31, they staring inside with jaws hanging around their knees. "What the devil's going on here?" he asked. "Did someone die . . .?"

He stopped on seeing all the soldiers turn to stare at him with faces that were as white as ghosts. Noting that, Sakamochi gulped - he hoped it hadn't been a more lethal gas that had been pumped into the room; explaining THAT would be REALLY bothersome when he got back to Tōkyō! - and then he walked over to peer into the classroom . . .

. . . and then his jaw hit the floor. "_**WHERE DID THEY GO?**_"

* * *

The _Freedom_, five minutes later . . .

"It is time."

Everyone tensed on hearing that flat statement from the woman now rising from the central chair on the battlewagon's bridge, and then people turned to gaze on Inada Mizuho, who was now staring off to their left and aft a bit. Towards Taka-shima, the people on _Freedom_'s bridge were quick to note. "They just woke up?" Mimura Shinji asked from his place beside Noda Satomi's station, a smirk on his face.

"And they have learned that they will not be killing innocents this time, friend Shinji," the would-be warrior priestess declared. "They are displeased."

"Too fuckin' bad for them," Numai Mitsuru said, a snort escaping him. All of the former members of Shiroiwa Junior High School, Class 3-B for the 2000-2001 school year were standing on the _Freedom_'s bridge. All save Mizuho wore gun belts, Lawgiver pistols loaned from _Yamato_'s weapons stores in holsters on their hips; the mistress of the Staff of Gihan didn't require such a weapon. "We goin' down to crash the party?"

Eyes locked on Nakagawa Noriko. The _ashi'cha_ of their group was standing at the bow end of the battlewagon, a tired yet relieved look on her face. Gazing on her, the others could only smile - even Kiriyama Kazuo seemed amused - on noting the look on her face. Finally, after a moment, she took a deep breath, and then she smiled as Nanahara Shūya came up to place a hand on her shoulder. "Hai, Mitsuru-kun. It's time." She then turned to gaze on the beautiful woman standing beside Kawada Shōgo. "Keep things safe until we get back, Keiko-san," she said. "We shouldn't be too long."

Inoue Keiko smiled. "Don't get hurt."

"We will not be hurt, friend Keiko."

The others on the bridge gazed on Mizuho, and then Noriko nodded to Satomi. As the others in Class 3-B moved into position, the bespectacled teen tapped a control on her work station to open a channel to the nearby Earth Defence Force ships. "_Freedom_ to _Arizona_ and _Yamato_. Per the operation plan, energise materialisers in ten seconds."

"Roger that, Miss Noda. Materialisers will energize and beam you right into Taka-shima Junior High School in ten seconds . . . mark. We'll be ready if you need us," OS3(AW) Jacqueline Litchenburg stated from the combat information centre of the American starship. "Good luck, guys. Give those bastards a special hello from us!"

"We will," Satomi said before she assumed her position.

Seconds later, forty-two young people vanished from the battlewagon . . .

* * *

Taka-shima . . .

"Oh, gods! Oh, gods! HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS?"

"Sir, calm down! There has to be a rational explanation for this!"

"'_**RATIONAL?**_'" Sakamochi shrilled as he spun on the sergeant, his whole body shaking with both outrage and panic. "**WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, 'RATIONAL?' WHAT THE HELL'S SO RATIONAL ABOUT FORTY-TWO PLAYERS **_**DISAPPEARING**_** LIKE THAT?**"

Before the hapless sergeant could respond, the people now standing on the main floor all perked on hearing an odd tinkling sound from upstairs. As their heads all turned up as they tried to imagine what that was and where it was coming from, the only one of the NADA soldiers who hadn't gone up to the second floor to look in on things - he was the corporal in charge of the communications unit - called out, "Sakamochi-san! Sergeant! There are a whole bunch of kids in the homeroom class!"

Everyone jolted. "_**WHAT?**_" Sakamochi demanded.

The corporal was shaking his head, looking very much like all his comrades did when they had stumbled onto an empty classroom. "Sir, I don't know how . . .!"

"Yo, Sensei! Aren't we getting started with homeroom class?"

Silence.

Sakamochi blinked on hearing that voice, and then he gulped. "Kawada . . .?"

"Up here."

The people on the main floor turned . . . and then slowly moved up the stairs to the half-way landing, slowly turning around to gaze on the tall and quite muscular teenage man standing at the top of the steps, dressed in his gakuran with the jacket open and showing the T-shirt underneath. And save for his unmarked face, this man looked exactly like the ONLY fellow who had ever participated TWICE in _The Program_.

"Kawada . . .!" Sakamochi - who had been the field director of Event 55-33, the one that had involved Kōbe 2nd District Junior High School - exhaled.

Shōgo smiled as he stared down at the older man, and then he smiled. It was one without any sense of humour in it, Sakamochi was quick to note. "Hey, Sakamochi-sensei! Long time, no see. Bet you never thought you'd see ME again, huh?"

"**_YOU'RE DEAD!_**"

That was the sergeant, who was now fumbling to get his hands on his sidearm. He then tensed on sensing that Shōgo had himself drawn a weapon, and then he turned to stare at a pistol that had a bulky laser construct under the barrel . . . and gleamed with an odd grey-green finish that seemed not natural for any metal forged on Earth. Before any of them could ask a question, Shōgo then looked down. "You there, Colonel Fukasaku?"

"Hai, Kawada-san, we're right here."

Everyone turned . . .

. . . and then gaped as a section's worth of men in solid black uniforms and hefting very alien-looking rifles came up from the direction of the office that served as the control room. Leading them was a nasty-looking man with a strange type of rank insignia on his shoulders - two gold horizontal bars stacked atop each other with two chrysanthemum flowers side-by-side over it - and, much to the confusion of the NADA soldiers of the Greater East Asia Republic, the old _Hinomaru_ flag of Japan on his shoulders. Before any of them could ask a question, the older officer then looked back. "Sergeant Shibuya!"

"Hai, Colonel?" a voice called out from the office Sakamochi and his companions had been using . . . just as the corporal in charge of communications was walked out of the room at the business end of another rifle being held by one of these strange men in black. "The fellow here's tied in the communications unit in the office to the DHK transmitter/receiver in Nagasaki. _Yamato_ is now jamming all other signals emanating from anywhere on the Home Islands save for DHK-1; the live transmission."

"Good," Fukasaku Kyōsuke said with a grin. "Bring him over here."

The small group of black clad troops moved to cover the approaching corporal - who had been disarmed, the sergeant in charge of the NADA detail was quick to note, his frustration at being cornered by these people, whoever they were, growing - as he was made to join his companions. "Now, all of you . . . " Fukasaku stated. "Kindly follow Kawada-san into the classroom. Homeroom is about to begin . . . " He then smirked. "For the _**final**_ episode of _The Program_."

"Move!" Kawada barked.

The people halfway up the stairs hesitated, which made Shōgo lock his pistol on the sergeant. "Kill-disintegrate, the NADA sergeant!" he snapped.

"_Kill-disintegrate: 68th Division sergeant_."

Sakamochi gaped on hearing that computerised voice . . .

. . . and then he screamed out as a bolt of ENERGY exploded from the muzzle of the pistol to slam into the sergeant. As the poor man howled in mortal agony, the ball of energy that was burning him alive expanded to consume every cell inside him . . . only to leave a faint shower of ashes to fall on the floor as the heavy stench of burned flesh assaulted the noses of the others. Silence then slammed down as the field director for _The Program_ turned to stare up once more at Kawada Shōgo while the NADA soldiers - clearly not prepared to deal with THIS! - all began to whimper.

"Guess you didn't get the memo from your bosses in Tōkyō, Sensei," the only two-time player in _The Program_ stated. "We came with friends. And with tech that'd blow your mind. Just like the tech that saved the butts of everyone you and friends have tried to kill over the last fifty-three years." He then scowled. "Now, MOVE!"

The group scrambled up the stairs on hearing that shout, the men from the 4th Airborne Battalion following them close behind as they kept them covered with their Peacemaker rifles. Shōgo backed up as they came towards the open doorway, and then waved them inside with his pistol. Once through the doorway, the members of Kazuo's gang - including Kanai Izumi - moved to disarm the NADA soldiers while Sōma Mitsuko, Shimizu Hirono and Yanagi Yoshimi kept them covered with their own Lawgivers. Once they were patted down and cleared to enter, the soldiers were then made to sit down in a row of chairs set up in front of the teacher's desk. Sakamochi was walked over by Kazuo himself to sit down at the teacher's desk. Once they were down, the people on their feet moved to join their classmates in the middle of the room, all of whom had pistols in hand save for one Sakamochi was quick to recognise as Inada Mizuho, who possessed a very alien-looking staff with a brightly glowing crystal atop it in her right hand. The soldiers from another dimension then came in, Fukasaku moving to place himself in a clear firing position concerning the _Program_ field director, and then he nodded to Noriko, who was standing at the head of her classmates.

"Sergeant Shibuya, are we live now?" Noriko called out.

"We are live, Noriko-san," the voice of Sergeant Shibuya Satoshi echoed over the school loudspeakers. "Signal just came in from Team Three. They have seized the DHK headquarters complex in Tōkyō and are making sure there can be no interruptions on DHK-1. DHK-2 and DHK-3 are totally jammed, as are all other stations transmitting in Japan, both radio and television. It doesn't guarantee that everyone in the country will see this, though. People could just turn off their sets or be asleep."

A sigh. "Well, it's too bad for them. They won't be watching as they see an entire _government_ destroyed before their eyes! Anyhow, focus the camera on me, please!"

She could sense the grin on the sergeant's face. "You're on and looking pretty, ma'am!"

The others in the class laughed as Noriko blushed, and then she bowed her head. "Ohayō gozaimasu, minna-san. My name is Nakagawa Noriko. I'm fifteen years old and I was - until last week - a third-year student at Shiroiwa Junior High School . . . "

* * *

Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home, that moment . . .

"Kā-san! I don't WANT to watch _The Program_! I hate it!"

"You be quiet, Ataru!" Moroboshi Kinshō snapped. "You have to watch this! The chances are there that when you're in middle school, you'll be . . . AWWWWK!"

"Kinshō. Be silent . . . or be dead."

Moroboshi Ataru blinked on hearing that gargled scream, and then he turned around before he blinked on seeing the woman in the black martial arts uniform that had just walked in, holding what looked like a BURNING SWORD right at his stupid mother's neck. As he considered that - ignoring the strangled sounds from his equally stupid father Muchi at the coffee table - he then blinked as something about the strange fiery sword came to him. "That's a soulsword," he whispered, which made his father gasp in white-faced horror at Ataru. "How can you make a soulsword, Onē-chan?"

A light smile crossed the visitor's face. "You will learn how to make use of a soulsword - and ALL the manoeuvres in your family Art - soon enough, Ataru. While I make sure Kinshō and Muchi behave themselves for the time being, turn the television on and switch it to DHK-1. You will want to see this episode of _The Program_."

He blinked, and then looked down, his eyes tearing. "I don't like it."

"Because it shows an uncaring government killing pretty girls, correct?" At his not, she smiled. "Understandable," Negako then stated. "However, the episode that is now starting to transmit from Taka-shima outside Nagasaki will be the FINAL episode of _The Program_. In that one, I guarantee . . . that no pretty girl will die."

Muchi and Kinshō blinked, both looking surprised on hearing that. Ataru, however, seemed to brighten on interpreting those words. "Really?"

"Really," Negako stated. "Now, turn the television on. You do not wish to miss any minute of the episode. Be swift about it, Ataru. You will see many pretty girls."

Nodding eagerly, he then headed over to turn the television on, and then he moved to take his seat. He then perked on hearing a girl's voice, " . . . -gawa Noriko. I'm fifteen years old and I was - until last week - a third-year student at Shiroiwa Junior High School in Kagawa-ken before I was forced into participating in _The Program_."

Ataru gasped, and then he cheered. "Yay! It's Noriko-onēchan!"

Both of his parents were blinking in surprise on seeing a girl that had been condemned as a traitor to the Republic now appearing on _The Program_ . . .

* * *

The Matsushiro Republic Headquarters site . . .

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" the Senior Chairman demanded. "Why is she on television? Get orders out to the people nearby! Have her seized . . .!"

"Minister!"

People turned as a wide-eyed sergeant came into the room, looking as if he had just seen the end of the world. "What? Tsugawa Masahiko demanded.

"Minister . . . all communications systems in the Republic . . . radio, cell-phones, television . . .!" A pant. "They're all JAMMED, sir! Save for DHK-1!"

Everyone in the room gaped on hearing that, and then the ministers began to talk and scream at each other, while a wide-eyed Sanada Mikiya gaped at the television screen mounted at one end of the room. "Oh, my . . . " he breathed out . . .

* * *

Taka-shima . . .

"As you know, my friend Nanahara Shūya and I were able to escape being killed thanks to the help of a wonderful friend of ours from our class, who turned out to be the only two-time player ever to appear in _The Program_," Noriko added. "With the help of someone else - I will not mention names, of course - we were able to escape and flee to America within hours of Kamon Yonemi's death. However, something quite extraordinary happened to us shortly after we arrived in New York City. Now, you all might find this quite hard to believe on first sight, but I guarantee to you all that what you're about to see is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." She smiled. "Sergeant, wide-view, please."

"Hai, Noriko-san!"

Instantly, the camera mounted behind the teacher's desk began to pan back as the lens took in the images of all the other people standing around and behind Noriko.

* * *

Shiroiwa, Shiroiwa Junior High School . . .

"It's them!"

"Oh, Gods! They're alive!"

"They're alive!"

"THEY'RE ALIVE!"

The shouted chants exploded from all the classrooms as teachers and students all stared at something that was a total impossibility . . . but no matter how much the more logical of them attempted to rationalise it, they knew deep in their hearts . . .

. . . that their forty lost schoolmates had survived _The Program_!

* * *

Tomobiki . . .

"YAY! THEY'RE OKAY! THEY'RE OKAY! THEY'RE OKAY! YAY! YAY!"

"Yes, Ataru, they are quite alright," Negako stated, clearly not tiring from holding a soulsword at Kinshō's throat. "As are ALL the pretty ladies who were made to 'play' in _The Program_. All the way back from 1947 to this very weekend."

He turned to gaze at her. "Really?"

A nod. "Listen to Noriko, Ataru. She will explain how."

* * *

Taka-shima . . .

"You all will probably recognise Shūya's and my classmates," Noriko stated as she walked around, indicating each and every one of them with her hand. "You all are probably asking this question now: 'How is this possible?' The answer is quite easy . . . and it's right here," she then declared as she waved to Mizuho and the alien staff in her hand. "This is called 'the Staff of Gihan.' It was created on a planet named Sagussa about 17,000 years ago as a reality-warping device that can do almost everything you could imagine. Including snare a person's very SOUL from a dying body to allow it to be inserted into a brand new and healthy body. As was done for all my friends you see here with me today . . . " Noriko then shrugged. "And as was done to EVERY 'player' in _The Program_ from the first episode all the way back in 1947 to last week."

"That's not possible!"

Noriko turned, and then she nodded. One of the 4th Battalion soldiers moved over to grab Sakamochi Kinpatsu by the back of his jacket and drag him over to stand close to Noriko. Instantly, Mitsuko and Hirono drew their pistols and aimed them at his head as their classmate turned to gaze on him. "Sakamochi-sensei seems to doubt what I just said. Well, it's understandable, I suppose, so I'll have it proven." Her voice then turned icy as she added, "With YOU as the guinea pig, Sensei. Mizuho-san!"

Mizuho then walked over, the Staff in hand as she placed herself off to Noriko's right rear. Holding up the alien weapon, she then levelled it at Sakamochi, who was now staring wide-eyed at her. "The good Master Shōgo told us about you, Kinpatsu," the would-be warrior-priestess stated. "How you - when you administered his first exposure to _The Program_ the year previous - loved to scream out 'I'm proud of you all!' every time someone killed someone else! Even to the moment where he was tricked by the circumstances to strike down a woman he loved more than life itself! And thus, by doing so, you all but GUARANTEED that your friend Yonemi would also die at Master Shōgo's hand. And a well-used pencil thrust into his windpipe."

As Sakamochi sputtered on hearing that chilly voice, Mizuho then smirked. "But in all the years this sick and dead country unleashed such a horror on her children, you all never realised one simple thing. You all claimed that you were trying to harden us, make us as stoic as the samurai of old, become equal to the brave men who put on the uniform of the late Shōwa Emperor's army and navy to launch the Greater East Asia War. Yet NONE of you ever realised what it MEANS to be a warrior! To say anything of what being such a warrior ultimately COSTS! Never ever did you experience the fear, the terror, the hatred, the anger, the frustration and all the other emotions that people forced into combat experience. The emotions you made us endure during those three days we were given no choice but to kill or be killed." She then smirked. "But fret not, Master Kinpatsu . . .

" . . . for you will experience it NOW!"

And the Staff flared as bright as a star . . .

* * *

Matsushiro . . .

"Oh, gods . . .!" Sanada gasped . . .

. . . before the screaming began.

* * *

Shiroiwa . . .

"Sensei, what's she doing to them?"

The teacher in Class 3-A could only gape as shrieks that could wake up the dead echoed from the television speakers. Screams that made him wonder if that was the sound the damned made on realising they were being sent straight to Hell.

"She's delivering the judgement of the gods on them . . . "

People turned to gaze on one of the girls at the back of the room, Kinoshita Tsuyako. Staring at her, the teacher then nodded. "Indeed she is, Tsuyako-kun. Indeed she is," he said before he moved to turn the volume down . . .

* * *

The _Yamato_ . . .

"Oh, God! Forgive her for what she has done . . .!"

People gazed on Anno Ryōko, and then they turned back to watch. "Amen to that, Ryōko-san," Motobuchi Ichimaru stated. "Amen to that . . . "

* * *

The _Arizona_ . . .

"Fuckin' A!" Kurosawa Ryō snarled. "You do it, Inada! WASTE THEM!"

The others of the _Schwartz Katze_ whooped out their support, and then Jō Naoki raised his fist as he started to chant, "Mizuho! Mizuho! MIZUHO! MIZUHO!"

The others of the Black Cats jumped in, with all of their classmates - not to mention the cooks and some off-duty personnel - joining in right afterward.

"_**MIZUHO! MIZUHO! MIZUHO! MIZUHO . . .!**_"

* * *

The _Haida_ . . .

"God's Will . . . "

Moroboshi Hiromi blinked, and then she turned to stare at Sakan Somumi, who had come to the operations room alongside many other tōshi to watch what was happening. Noting that the young archer from Kyoshō was holding her rosary, the reborn emperor then nodded as she gazed on the main view screen. "Aye, Orai-dono," she whispered as she reached over to gently squeeze her arm, which made the younger woman gaze on her.

"His Will be done . . . "

* * *

Tomobiki . . .

Ataru blinked on hearing the pained howls erupt from behind him, and then he turned around to watch as both his stupid parents collapsed to their knees, gripping the sides of their heads as their whole bodies quaked akin to their being electrocuted. Before he could yell at them to shut up, Negako was at his side, touching the side of his head to stiffen the tympanic membranes from the horrid assault of such a wave of noise, not to mention cut the feed of that level of sound into his brain . . .

* * *

Matsushiro . . .

"_**MIKIYA-KUN! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THEM?**_"

Trying not to wince too much on hearing all the ministers in the chamber shrill out in seemingly endless agony from the surging wave of memories and emotions tearing right into their very souls, Sanada Mikiya walked over to stand close to a visibly wincing Anjō Gō. "That's how they're doing it, Gō-kun!" the commander called out, cupping his mouth with a hand so that the major could hear him over all that noise. "Inada-san is using that device to force-feed copies of all the memories of all the players in _The Program_ and what they experienced right into the brains of the ministers! And probably anyone else who also supported it! This is probably happening all over the country!"

The major blinked as he considered that, and then he stared at the Navy officer. "Then why's it not affecting either you or me?"

Sanada chuckled. "Gō-kun, don't you understand?" He pointed to the television screen, which was now showing Sakamochi Kinpatsu and the NADA soldiers now on Taka-shima on their knees, screaming out as they tried to do anything to stop the storm of memories and emotions ripping through their brains from overwhelming them. "Admit it to yourself! You've had your doubts about the whole thing, haven't you?"

Anjō thought about it, and then he nodded. "Hai! Several times . . . "

"So why should Noriko-san order you to die?"

The major looked surprised on hearing the commander refer to the leader of the _Program_ participants by her given name, and then he considered that . . . before strangled gasps escaped several of the ministers in the room. Both men turned . . . to morbidly watch as the bodies of many of the leaders of the Greater East Asia Republic seized up in overwhelming strokes, and then mercifully collapse onto either the table they were sitting around or the floor at their now-dead feet. As those who had stronger constitutions found their voice boxes strained to the breaking point from the endless howling, Sanada then shook his head as he stared at the television. "Well played, Noriko-san. Well played . . . "

"What do we do?" Anjō then asked.

"We find out who's still alive . . . and try to keep the country going," Sanada stated before he gazed once more on the screen. "But we would be wise to permanently cancel Experiment Program 68. After all, look what it ultimately unleashed."

The Army officer stared at the dead and dying people in the room, and then he nodded. "Hai . . . you do have a point there, Mikiya-kun . . . "

* * *

Taka-shima . . .

"It is done . . . "

Hearing that tired statement from Mizuho - who was now leaning against the Staff of Gihan, its focusing crystal now almost pitch black, with just the faintest beacon of light from the _Te'a_ at its core - the others in the room then turned as the last of the NADA soldiers that had been on Taka-shima that day to run Event 56-31 collapsed to the floor, blood leaking from torn internal tissue in his sinuses as a gargled dying breath finally escaped his lungs. "How many, Mizuho-san?" Noriko asked.

The would-be warrior-priestess blinked, and then she breathed out, shaking her head as her eyes teared. "Over seven hundred thousand people, friend Noriko . . . "

"Oh, God! Forgive us for what we've done!" Sakaki Yūko moaned.

"No, Yūko."

Eyes locked on Kazuo. "What do you mean, Boss?" Mitsuru asked.

A smile - and much to everyone's shock, twin tracks of tears - appeared on his face as he gazed on his friend. "God . . . in this case, would understand."

The others blinked, and then Shūya nodded. "Amen."

"Amen," Shinji declared.

"Amen . . . " many of the others breathed out.

Noriko nodded. "Amen . . . " she whispered, and then took a deep breath. "Sergeant, focus on me, please!" she called out.

"Hai, Noriko-san!" Shibuya replied.

The camera zoomed in on her as she stared into its lens.

"_The Program_ . . . is now cancelled," she flatly declared.

At that moment, Satomi, Takako, Mitsuko and Hirono moved to stand around their friend. "Make sure it stays that way . . . or we'll be back," Mitsuko warned.

"Bet on it!" Hirono snarled. "Shut her down, Sarge! Let's go home!"

"Hai, Hirono-san!"

* * *

And across a nation, screens went blank . . .

_**To be continued . . .**_


	25. The Day After

Ship's Operational Log, Saturday 1 January 2011, ship's time 0520 hours EST, Captain (Navy) Brian Gamblin reporting,_  
Having assumed a more peaceful stance concerning the dimension we are now operating in - and lowering our radar-jamming systems to allow all nations with such capabilities on Earth to detect us finally - we have resumed a close orbit over T__ō__ky__ō__. All is well and all personnel - save the Director's elder sister, Grandmaster Moroboshi Negako - are back aboard _Haida_, _Arizona_, _Yamato_ and _Freedom_.  
We have just been joined by another force from our home dimension: the British starship H.M.S. _Hood_, the Australian starship H.M.A.S. _Kirkpatrick_ and the Encouraçado Espacial_ João Cândido Felisberto_ of Brazil, all under the command of the Director's other sister, Miss Moroboshi Tariko. All three ships were the only ones of the Earth Defence Force ready to be used and deploy in support of the search mission for both _Haida_ and _Freedom_ beyond _Arizona_ and _Yamato_. Accompanying them were six of the Type A civilian passenger/cargo transport colonisation ships that have been launched by the Avalonians from the former Niphentaxian Navy spacedocks seized at the Liberation last February.  
Much to the surprise of many in the enhanced squadron now in orbit over Earth, the six vessels in question are ships that are ultimately owned by the cruise ship company Carnival Corporation and PLC of Miami, Florida. Three of them are the Royal Mail Starships _Mauretania_, _Lusitania_ and _Aquitania_, all of whom were named after famous passenger liners that plied the North Atlantic in the period before, during and after World War One; both the originals and the current ships operate under the Cunard Line brand. The other three - under a revised White Star Line brand that was reformed four months ago by Carnival and Cunard - are Royal Mail Starships _Olympic_, _Titanic_ and _Britannic_. Hopefully, the luck of the new R.M.S. _Titanic_ will be much better than her tragic namesake that sank off Newfoundland back in 1912, to say anything of the new R.M.S. _Lusitania_ given what happened to her namesake off the coast of Ireland in 1915 thanks to the _U-20_.  
To given the _Program_ survivors a chance to have much larger quarters than what they had endured for so long on _Freedom_, all of them have been moved aboard the Type As and allowed to relax and unwind from many months of uncertainty and fear thanks to their horrid experience at the hands of the Greater East Asia Republic. I am quite pleased to report that the Catering Support Regiment of the British Army's Royal Logistic Corps - augmented by just-formed Territorial Army RLC regiments meant to support the new reserve brigades created thanks to the massive amount of Avalonian-Britons joining Her Majesty's armed forces as part-time soldiers - came through spectacularly in preparing large amounts of food so that over sixty thousand young teenagers can get away finally from eating replicated products three times a day. I have already begun the process to recommend the units involved receive the Chief of the Defence Staff Commendation for their help in such a time of need.  
After a meeting between Director Moroboshi, Captain Nathan Kerr of _Hood_, Captain Umezu Sabur__ō_ of Yamato_, Lieutenant-Colonel Conrad Scattergood of the Catering Support Regiment (who has his deployed regimental headquarters aboard _Olympic_), Carnival Chief Executive Officer Micky Arison (who came to this dimension aboard _Mauretania_) and Miss Nakagawa Noriko (the Elder Mother of the _Program_ survivors) here on _Haida_, it has been decided that as soon as we do return back to our own dimension, __they will remain on the Type As - with the full willing support of Carnival through both Cunard and White Star and the logistics support of the British Army - while arrangements are made with the Japanese government as to their re-settlement there. It is now hoped that all the kids will be adopted into foster families by the time the new school year begins in Japan in April 2011. A survey of all the classes involved indicate that while these kids are prepared to live in other countries if necessary, all would prefer to live in the Japan of our dimension, which I'm sure the current government would loudly welcome given the downward trend of the nation's overall population in recent years. Already, all the former members of Shiroiwa Junior High School Class 3-B have made it quite clear they want to live in Tomobiki and attend Tomobiki High School, where "Hiromi-sempai" is currently a sophomore.  
The would-be last participants of _The Program_ - the forty-two students of Shikanotoride Junior High School Class 3-B - have yet to decide what they want to do with themselves. For the time being, they'll remain on _Arizona_.  
I also suspect - and Captain Umezu agrees with me on this - that when the_ Program _survivors__ start coming of age, the Japanese Self-Defence Forces will be getting a massive number of new recruits joining up, both in the other ranks and through the National Defence College in Yokosuka.  
As was promised by Captain Kazanski to President Clinton, scientific personnel - who also came with _Hood_, _Kirkpatrick_ and _Felisberto_ to this dimension - are, under the direction of Ki Tsukihana and Hakaru Ayami, preparing data packages for transmission to various nations so they can start developing their own Sagussan-based technology to eventually give the Earth of this dimension FTL-capable starships of their own in as short a time as practicable. As a show of good faith to the new government of the now-renamed Republic of Japan - now forming under the new leadership of Motobuchi Ky__ō__ichi's father, Representative Motobuchi Ichimaru, who was supported in his bid to become the new Prime Minister by the leadership of both the Republic Army and Navy - copies of that self-same knowledge were conveyed to the Diet by Mimura Shinji's aunt Tomoko and Prime Minister Motobuchi to the various government departments and industrial scientific work units throughout Japan so that the people of that nation and their allies in the Oriental Commonwealth will not feel left out as the humanity of this dimension advances finally to the stars . . ._

* * *

R.M.S. _Titanic_ . . .

"Geez, Boss! You EVER see a ship like this before?"

Kazuo blinked as he took a look around the vast space of the main ballroom of the Type A passenger/cargo transport starship that all the former Shiroiwa students - and Shōgo's girlfriend Keiko, who was seen as an unofficial member of their group - had been moved to once it was decided to fully evacuate the _Freedom_ pending her final fate; given that the Niphentaxian ship didn't have the tachytron energy collectors Sagussan-designed vessels were equipped with, returning her back to her proper dimension would be difficult and the engineers were considering sending her flying into the Sun to render her into her component atoms so that, when the whole mass shifted over in just under a year's time, it wouldn't cause a huge impact in the Earth Defence Force's home dimension. "Actually, no. I did go on a cruise ship to Guam with my parents once when I was still in elementary school, Mitsuru . . . but I must confess that such vessels were not as ornately decorated or as well-equipped as this one."

"Well, let's hope the luck of this ship is much better than her namesake," Satomi stated as she crossed her arms. "We all know _that_ story, don't we?"

"I doubt they'll ever run across icebergs in deep space, Tomi," Shinji noted.

"Comets are often made of frozen gasses, Shinji. Atop that, there are asteroids to consider as well," Kazuo reminded his classmate. "But given that there is the history of the original _Titanic_ to remember, I believe the crew of this new ship will keep such things in mind. And I also believe the ship will come with ALL the necessary safety features needed to keep whatever passengers and crew she carries to their destination in total comfort and with a guarantee of a secure landing."

"But what would a ship like this do, Boss?" Mitsuru wondered.

"The Earth which will soon become our new home suffers from overpopulation and over-usage of natural resources, Mitsuru," Kazuo stated as several of the people walked away from them to gaze on the detailed diagrams of the walls of the main entrance lounge they had just entered from the materialiser room where they had arrived aboard from _Freedom_. "Fortunately, the Seifukusu Dominion has turned over thirty Class-M planets to Earth's control so that populations can be shifted over. _Titanic_ and all her sisterships will be used initially as colonisation vessels. As you can see in the main diagram Yukie and the others are looking at now, there are cargo holds which would hold all the physical materials necessary to shift a good-sized group of people and allow them to establish a new settlement on another world. By the time we graduate from high school, we might actually be able to join in on such settlements on Pacifica."

"'Pacifica?'" Noriko asked.

"That is the name of the planet that will be divided between Japan, the two Koreas, Mongolia and Taiwan - what we know of as Formosa - when settlement is begun in earnest, Noriko. During previous times Mizuho allowed us to 'stretch our legs' when we were still aboard the bioroid factory, I took the chance to get into the factory mainframe and analyse what were the actual plans our adopted race had when it came to helping the Terrans overcome such problems. I must confess that the 'roadmap' set up by President Meinyak was spot-on when it came to predicting what would happen."

"So you knew that we could have stayed in Sempai's dimension all along, didn't you?" Ogawa Sakura then stated as she looked at him; she and Yamamoto Kazuhiko had been examining a cut-away model of the _Titanic_ set in the middle of the room.

"I did."

"Why didn't you try to tell us that, Boss?" Kanai Izumi stated.

"Because those times we were allowed to be free of the Staff's focusing crystal were quite brief, Izumi. It was hard - even for myself - to discuss such an emotionally-intensive subject as that to all of you," he explained as he gave her a knowing look. "As demonstrated by the many attempts Mizuho made to convince you of what was happening, your emotions concerning our overall situation were quite overwhelming. But do not be saddened by such things. In this case, it's certainly better late than never."

"Kazuo-kun is right," Noriko said. "So, now that we're aboard this big boat, let's go find someone and get our cabin assignments. I want to be able to sleep on a real bed for a change instead of a futon. Even if we are used to sleeping on them."

The others nodded as they headed out of the entrance lounge into a hallway marked with a sign declaring BOARDING PROCESSING. They soon came to a series of booths that were manned by smiling Avalonian-Britons in formal clothing marking them as officers and crew of the _Titanic_. One of them had the three gold stripes and diamond-shaped Elliot's Eye insignia of a first officer on her epaulette slip-ons, her peaked cap bearing the wreathed badge with the red swallowtail pendant and the bright white star of her service. "Ah, the heroes of the hour!" she said as the women in their booths all rose and began to clap their hands. "Welcome aboard _Titanic_, sisters and brothers," she then declared as she gave them a formal salute that would pass muster at the Britannia Royal Naval College. "I'm Chief Purser Katharine McElroy of the White Star Line, assigned to the Royal Mail Starship _Titanic_. For this voyage, I'll be in overall charge of your cabin assignments and all necessary supply and administration when it comes to your staying aboard this ship until you're allowed to re-settle in Japan. I also serve as the _ashi'cha_ of this vessel's Avalonian crew, so if any of you need any sort of spiritual guidance - as we don't have any Shintō or Buddhist priests with us on this voyage - my cabin doors are always open. In the meantime, if we can ask you to file through the admission booths, you'll be given your room assignments, and then the cabin stewards beyond will escort you there and help you settle down."

"Arigatō!" most of the forty-two people that were standing there - the clear exceptions were Kazuo and Mizuho; the latter was in a hoverchair as she slept off the exhaustion she had sustained in using the Staff of Gihan in such a brutal manner not more than several hours before, the Staff behind held by Yoshio as he helped push her into place so she could get her cabin assignment - chanted as they bowed to her.

People then started to file through the booths. The couples in the group were allowed to take up married couple cabins, and then were escorted off while the still-single people were either given two-bed rooms (if they wanted to pair up with a friend) or single-bed cabins for those wanting to be alone. Noting that Mizuho had been given a cabin of her own, Kazuo made a hand signal to his gang friends, then moved over to one side to wait their getting through the admissions lines before joining him. "What's up, Boss?" Ryūhei asked as they all formed a school circle around him and Izumi.

"Find out Mizuho's cabin assignment. Under no circumstances is she to be left alone," Kazuo whispered to them. "Pass this on to Kaori and Megumi as well; Mitsuko and her friends are already aware of this. Shinji and Yoshio will set up video and sensor surveillance as well. Remember what Sempai told us about the Staff?"

The others all nodded in understanding. They had been quick to note that the stewards handling their room assignments - while looking quite physically healthy and in very good spirits - had haunted looks in their eyes that were not so different than what Shōgo had demonstrated before their lives would forever change thanks to _The Program_. And given what the Staff of Gihan - a _Sagussan_ weapon of mass destruction even though in the case of the _Program_ survivors, it had become a device of mass _creation_! - was all too capable of doing, the temptation of making use of it to go back to the Phentax system in their universe would be great for many Avalonians nursing thoughts of revenge against their former masters. To say anything of their helping their sisters - if they existed - in _this_ dimension become free if it was discovered they were also trapped in chattel slavery.

"Loud and clear, Boss," Hiroshi stated . . .

* * *

"Mizuho-san, we're here."

A tired sigh escaped the would-be warrior-priestess as her eyes opened up and she gazed around the quite beautiful hotel-like room she had been assigned. It had a large picture window showing a panoramic view of space, with the _Olympic_ hovering off in the near distance and _Aquitania_ beyond her, the Moon off to the left and up. Gazing on the beautiful civilian transport ships - which were the same size as a Type One battleship, though built with solid upper and keel-line superstructures mostly lined with windows to indicate where the passenger cabins were - she was quick to note the colouring of the hulls. Black overall in lieu of the various shades of grey used on military warships, she had a white upper superstructure and blood-red lower superstructure, with four sensor towers atop the upper superstructure (in a design echo of the original _Olympic_'s and _Aquitania_'s four funnels). The former ship had her sensor towers painted in the White Star pattern of a black top over a tan base; the Cunard ship beyond had black tops over dark red bases divided by three very thin equadistant black stripes. The Union Jacks marking the ships as British-owned were on the main hull aft of amidships. And on the upper hull near the forward end of _Olympic_, there was a stylised **White Star** in tan Helvetica font beside the red swallowtail pendant insignia of the famous shipping company was painted there to mark her current operators; though she couldn't see that detail on _Aquitania_, Mizuho had been told that Cunard ships had the name of their home service in red block letters painted on their hulls, no doubt accompanied here with the Cunard Line's red flag bearing the rampant crowned gold lion holding a globe in its forepaws. Their names were printed on the bows and ahead of the twin exhausts of their main hull in white, their registered home port - unlike the original ships, it was Southampton in lieu of Liverpool for both _Olympic_ and _Aquitania_ - marked with their names aft.

"Beautiful . . . "

"Hai, they are quite beautiful ships, aren't they?" Yoshio asked.

"You would prefer to deal with warships, would you not?" Mizuho asked.

The gentle giant blinked, and then he sighed. "Maybe. But then again, the one time I used one of the _Freedom_'s missiles to destroy that ELF transmitter in China . . . " A shake of the head. "There were a dozen people there, Mizuho-san."

She blinked. "You regret killing them."

A nod. "Hai."

"Then you will be forgiven by the Master for what you did," she assured him. "You, my friend, regret what you had to do even if it was to ultimately ensure we stayed safe. As all true warriors should feel whenever they are forced to take a life. That is what I asked the Staff to do when we unleashed our punishment on the monsters that condemned us to die. To seek out all those who did NOT regret ordering us - or supporting those who ordered us - to kill or be killed." A sigh. "To believe there were so many . . . "

"DHK's reported that the total number of dead was 314,930," he stated. "The number of people in comas but are still alive are 426,738." A shake of the head as he gazed wide-eyed at her. "It's madness, Mizuho-san! How could all those people just ACCEPT - even LIKE! - something like _The Program_? Didn't they care?"

"They were the leaders in a dictatorship, my friend," Mizuho stated. "Once they got past the period where the _Program_ could have threatened their lives - and then gained access to the halls of true power - they simply didn't care anymore. We were all pawns in a sick chess game of life. Throwaway toys to be used and discarded as required. Since they had never gambled their own lives, they didn't understand what gambling the lives of others meant. After all, we were safe behind the umbrella of our nuclear missiles from attack from America or Russia - even if the leaders of both those lands eventually decided they didn't wish to seize what territory we had, even Guam, Karafuto or the Chishima-rettō - and we were at peace with our neighbours despite the rebellion in the Philippines. So what experience did they have with warfare? They had none. But like the immature children they really were at heart, those monsters decided they liked the flash of explosions and the gory sight of people dying . . . so they thought up a way of letting that happen in real-time. And we all suffered for it." She then smirked. "They didn't realise - and didn't care - that we also had feelings, dreams and desires. So since they didn't - and wouldn't - make themselves see that, I forced them to see it. You know the results."

"It's amazing that the Army and Navy survived with so few losses," he noted.

"The benefits of an all-volunteer military force. And unlike the monsters of the so-called 'non-aggressive defensive-army,' those who put on the uniform to defend their homeland from external threats were not asked to be passionate supporters of _The Program_ before they put those uniforms on. Besides, even if Japan still has a powerful military, the vast majority of the Diet such as Kyōichi's father survived and they are moving to make some necessary reforms. And with all those who wanted us to kill each other out of the way, there should be nothing to stop them from making the Japan of our birth as good and as peaceful as the Japan we will soon become a part of."

"I wonder . . . "

"What?"

"If we have counterparts in Sempai's universe. I heard Sempai talk to her sister before we left _Haida_ to come here to stay for the time being. Negako-sama had gone down to Tomobiki to look in on the counterpart to Sempai's brother. If the Moroboshi family is in our universe, could we have counterparts in theirs?"

A nod. "Possibly, but I doubt it. After all, we were born of the generation that blossomed in the wake of the end of the Greater East Asia War. Our new homeland only has just over one-half of the population of our old homeland. The 'baby boom' generation as the Americans call it." A smile. "It also explains Shiroiwa; the town was founded AFTER that war ended. It is not an older village of farmers or merchants like our new hometown was before the Restoration. Shiroiwa doesn't exist in the Great Emperor's universe."

"It'd be strange."

"How so?"

"Dealing with real aliens."

"My friend, some would see _**us**_ as the aliens."

He blinked, and then chuckled. "Hai, that's true!"

A knock then echoed from the door. "Enter, friend Shinji!" Mizuho called out.

The door opened to reveal the basketball player. "Hey, guys," he said as he closed and locked the door behind him, and then he looked around. "Whoo-ee! These are some posh digs we'll have for the next while! Hope it doesn't spoil us!"

"Do you have it?" Yoshio asked.

A wink. "Right here," he said as he drew out a small pyramid-shaped device, and then he placed it down on the nightstand beside Mizuho's bed. "It's attuned to the meson radiation the Staff is putting out. If it senses the Staff moving beyond five metres from where Mizuho puts it down, an automatic signal goes out to _Haida_ and _Arizona_. There'll be a pack of SEALs, plus Negako-sama, here within seconds."

"A pity we must guard against such things from our own sisters," Mizuho mused as Yoshio then moved to lift her off the hoverchair and move to lie her down. She kept the Staff in her hand as he gently placed her on the bed, and then moved to drape a quilt over her; the room's temperature was cool enough to allow her to continue to wear her school clothes yet not become too hot under the quill. "But necessary. Did you feel it?"

"Nah; Negako-sama blocked out our powers while we're still adjusting to being in flesh-and-blood bodies again," Shinji stated. "But you can see it in a few eyes."

"Hai, that's true," Yoshio said, and then he stared at Shinji. "I'll stay here for a few hours. She wants to sleep first before getting something to eat."

A wink. "I'll pass it on to Mayumi-chan."

Yoshio's cheeks instantly flared as Mizuho tried not to laugh . . .

* * *

The main recreation lounge . . .

" . . . spoken with President Clinton about what has happened here in Japan," Motobuchi Ichimaru stated in front of the crowd of press now meeting with him at the Diet Building in downtown Tōkyō; _Titanic_ was now getting the CNN feed coming off several satellites orbiting Earth. "He has expressed his administration's full support for the reforms the Emergency Council of the Republic of Japan has launched in the wake of what the _Program_ survivors unleashed on those who condemned them all to die over the last fifty years and more. Granted, there will be periods of great tension; we are trying to cast aside the mass paranoia that has governed our country's actions for far too long, but it will be hard to change attitudes even if the most radical amongst us are either dead or now in permanent comas awaiting their relatives' decision to euthanize them as a final act of mercy. I will be happy to take questions. Yes, Miss Amanpour?"

"Has there been any negative reaction by the relatives of the victims of the Staff of Gihan against the _Program_ survivors, Prime Minister?"

A sigh. "Sadly, there has been some, but the police forces in the various prefectures of Japan - as well as local government authorities and non-governmental aide organisations - are monitoring the situation. While they cannot strike back at Noriko-chan or any of her friends - seeing as they are now aboard those beautiful starliners that came to our dimension in the wake of yesterday's events and are being guarded by the Earth Defence Force battleships also in orbit - there is a chance that reprisals could be launched against their relatives still alive here in Japan."

"Such as yourself, of course."

A nod. "Yes, such as myself. But I hope - and pray - that those people who are now facing either burying their relatives or deciding whether or not to end life support for those still alive yet are now comatose . . . will take a chance and sit back, then consider what happened. And what's more, WHY it happened!" He indicated himself. "Just a week ago, my wife and I had to face the horrible fact that our only son was dead. And that he died in a state-sanctioned act of MASS MURDER! For years, we were all led to believe by our government that participation in _The Program_ was a solemn duty for the youth of our land to endure when they were called up. Yet too many of us never sat back and thought – and, in fact, were never ENCOURAGED to think! - of what the COST of _The Program_ actually would be. Not just the cost of lives . . . but the horrible cost to our country's very soul, the spirit of the land given to us by the Kami for us to have. And for those who did think of such things . . . they had to keep such thoughts to themselves lest they become targets of government crackdowns."

He took a deep breath. "Then two days ago, I learned my son had - through a miracle that could, in many ways, be thought of as pure _magic_! - ultimately survived. But because of the specific mechanics that made his survival possible, he can't live here. So in essence, my wife and I have to face the same thing we did last week: An empty home with no son to care for. Now, there will possibly be the chance for future children. But even if we do have further children, my wife and I will not have our first son with us anymore. Neither will all the others who have lost their loved ones thanks to _The Program_. So therefore, the Emergency Council - which was formed and supported both by those who have been victimised by _The Program_ and those who never approved of it but never had to bury a loved one, all with the full support of the Republic's armed forces - will make it its top priority to ensure that nothing of that nature will again haunt our nation and her citizens. And especially her children." He then pointed to another reporter. "Yes, Mister Kim?"

"What plans do the new government have concerning the technological knowledge our visitors from that other Earth are transmitting to us at this time?"

"Earlier today, a consortium of scientific research groups, both private and government, have come together under the leadership of Ms. Mimura Tomoko to analyse the various physics, chemistry, biology, metaphysics and mathematical structures that fully govern our counterparts' technology so such can be put to use here as soon as possible. Like our counterparts, we are facing overpopulation and resource exhaustion issues; the sooner we get out into space and settle other planets, the better for us all.

"Of course, we of Japan will gladly invite our Oriental Commonwealth partners to join us in this effort, as the nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the British Commonwealth of Nations, l'Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and the Commonwealth of Eurasian States will also be doing under the leadership of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia. This is a friendly competition - which is much better than a multi-way cold war! - between all of us to see who is able to produce the results the fastest AND the safest. We believe - and many of the leaders of other nations agree - that it may be possible to start deploying fast sub-light spacecraft to explore Mars within the next couple of years . . . and launch our first ever superluminal star craft within the decade. It sounds incredible, but please remember what the late President John Kennedy urged Americans to do concerning their Apollo programme at his inaugural address in 1961. We all know what happened on 20 July 1969 on the Moon." As people applauded and laughed, he then pointed. "Miss Davant?"

"Speaking of defensive organisations, what will happen, Mister Prime Minister, concerning the large number of weapons of mass destruction - specifically nuclear missiles - deployed by the Japanese Army and Navy? Will Japan and her allies enter a version of the SALT and START treaties that exist between Russia and America?"

"We will consider that," the prime minister stated. "But we will do so when we feel our interests are safeguarded. I explained this to President Clinton in my phone-call with him and he agrees with me. Furthermore, I am pleased to say that President Putin, President Chirac and Prime Minister Blair - as was revealed to me by their ambassadors here in Tōkyō - also agree. Much that I truly understand why many people worldwide would wish to be rid of such weapons - we Japanese, of course, live with the memories of the bombings of Tōkyō and Kyōto in 1945 by the Nazis to this very day - but we do not wish to enter a situation where we will not be bullied by someone who, for whatever reason, doesn't like us. The racism that helped start off the Pacific side of World War Two and eventually pushed the creation of the 'Greater East Asia Republic' is still there in many places, on all sides. We need to educate people - again, on all sides - to eradicate that racism. As we're doing that, it is strongly possible that some group may wish to take advantage of our desire for world peace and lash out. It could be the government of a nation-state . . . or it could be a terrorist group who develop simple low-yield tactical bombs or 'dirty nuke' radioactive waste devices that kill people without destroying buildings. Or it could be someone who makes use of biological or chemical weapons." He sighed. "I pray the day comes soon that we can all look upon each other and live the dream the late Reverend Martin Luther King spoke of years ago in Washington, where people judge each other not by the colour of their skin . . . but by the content of their character. We must all work to make that dream come true." He pointed. "Mister Schächter?"

"Some people in Japan have stated that while they gladly support the ending of _The Program_, they also are concerned about the possible rise of juvenile delinquency among the youth of Japan. What will happen now that the youth of Japan no longer have to literally fear for their lives? Will there be programs that will be instituted to encourage them to positively contribute to Japanese society, thus helping the nation fully pull away from its past as the 'Greater East Asia Republic?'"

"Yes, there will be such programs, though be assured they won't be mandatory. We haven't decided what yet, but such programs will be encouraged. As to what, I cannot say. We're still at the beginning stages of those discussions . . . "

"Oi! Change the channel, huh?"

Shūya smiled as he keyed the controls to change over to MTV, though he turned down the volume as not that many people in the lounge - which now included members of over thirty classes spanning all five decades _The Program_ was in operation - cared for such loud noise even if it was good music. He then set aside the remote before relaxing in his chair. "Hey, Yoshitoki?"

"Yeah?" Kuninobu Yoshitoki called out from a nearby chair.

"What do you want to do with yourself once we're moved into a new home?"

A snort. "Pass high school first!" the other man said before he sipped back the vitamin milkshake he was drinking; the male members of Class 3-B were on their last day of restricted food consumption so as to not upset their stomachs. "None of us are brilliant geniuses like Sempai's friends Ayami-chan and Tsukihana-chan, so I don't see myself doing anything other than pass the Centre Test in three years' time and getting into a good university. If something comes along . . . " A shrug. "It comes."

"You feeling okay, Shū?" Shinji asked.

A sigh. "I'm still getting over it, Mim."

"Over what?" Shōgo wondered.

"The fact that we didn't just pre-empt _The Program_ when we escaped from Japan, Shōgo," Shūya stated. "We fuckin' _**destroyed**_ it . . . and all those who supported it. Just like you wanted to do all along. Remember what you told those NADA bastards on the patrol boat back on Oki-shima?" As the two-time _Program_ participant nodded, the would-be pop guitarist breathed out, "I just hope we did the right thing in the end."

"It's for them to figure out, Shūya. Not us," Kazuo advised.

Others nodded. People then perked on hearing footsteps, and then turned as Ryūhei walked into the room. "Everything okay with Mizuho, Ryūhei-kun?" Kaori asked.

"Yeah, she's fine. Shō's watching her now," Ryūhei stated. "Yo, Shū, you better go look in on your lady there." As the others tensed, he added, "She just got off the comm link with her jackass mom." A shake of the head. "No fuckin' change."

"Oh, fuck! What the hell's wrong with the bitch?" Mitsuru snarled. "Noriko's bro is okay! She's okay! There ain't no _Program_ anymore! What's the deal here?"

"Probably she's like the counterparts to Sempai's parents."

Eyes locked on Shūya, and then people thought about it. "Then if she actually LIKED _The Program_ . . . why the hell ain't she DEAD?" Shinji asked.

"No doubt because she believed in it enough to accept that it would come for both her children . . . but not to the extent the Moroboshis and other families did, Shinji," Kazuo stated, and then a smile turned his lips. "However, I do not think she will survive much longer - at least emotionally - if she maintains such an attitude."

"Why do you say that, Boss?" Ryūhei asked.

"Her brother, Ryūhei. Remember how happy he was that Noriko was alive and safe?"

The others nodded. "He's a cute tyke," Mitsuru stated as everyone remembered meeting little Nakagawa Kinji on the _Yamato_. "He'll grow up to be strong. Bet on it."

"And estranged from his mother," Kazuo added.

Everyone blinked. "Yeah! You got a point, Kazuo," Yoshitoki noted. "Kinji-chan really looked mad when his mom wouldn't say anything to Noriko-chan." He then perked before adding, "AND Yukie-chan and her parents were there, too."

"Right!" Shinji trilled out. "Yukie-chan's parents were there . . . "

"And they both accepted Yukie-chan and Noriko-chan being bond-mates. After they got the explanation of what was normal among Avalonians," Yoshitoki finished. "From what I saw, they didn't like Noriko-chan's mom giving her the cold shoulder like that." He then winked at his classmates. "Something tells me that the Utsumis are going to always stay close by to Kinji-chan in case he doesn't feel at home with his parents . . . especially if his mom's attitude keeps up."

"Not to mention most of our other parents," Hirono added.

"Everything with your parents cool, Hiro?" Mitsuru asked,

A sigh. "Weird as it sounds - hell, weird as it was to ME! - they're sad that I gotta go, but they hope I won't be as much of a fuck-up as I was here, Mitsu," the punkish girl stated. "Damn! Never thought that dyin' and comin' back would cause such an attitude change with the folks!" She then paused before moaning. "Fuck! Don't say weird shit like THAT, Shimizu! We don't want THAT attitude to spread around!"

The others - save Kazuo - ruefully chuckled . . . and then they all perked on hearing footfalls. They turned, and then relaxed on seeing Noriko walk into the room, hand-in-hand with Yukie. While the former's face was still damp from crying, she did seem a little more upbeat than what she had appeared like she was right after her failed attempts at speaking to her mother on _Yamato_. "Hey, Boss Lady! It's all cool?" Mitsuru asked as the couple moved to take their seats.

A nod. "I'll be alright, Mitsuru-kun. Thanks," Noriko said before she took a deep breath. "We just got a call . . . from Principal Amano."

Everyone perked. "The principal of our school? Why?" Shinji asked.

"Well, one tradition _The Program_ started up . . . was that whenever a class was forced to 'play,' the school they came from would then posthumously declare all the members of that class graduated from junior high school," Noriko explained. "Since we're the only class that's fully intact and on their feet, Amano-kōchōsensei wants to hold a special ceremony for us before we head to our new home." She then giggled. "I've even been asked to be the valedictorian for the class!"

The others considered that. "That'd be really fuckin' weird!" Ryūhei noted. "We only completed one term before we got taken to the damned island! And we're gonna have to do some serious catchin' up in school before we could all go to Sempai's school in April."

"True, but I think they - and the whole country - need it," Noriko stated. "We were so hell-bent on getting our revenge on the monsters that tried to kill us all that we tended to forget that there were other people in Japan who never cared for that sort of thing at all. They need to start getting their own closure."

"So we're doin' it?" Mitsuru asked.

No objections came from anyone present. "When's it happening?" Shūya asked.

"Monday morning," Noriko answered; it was currently Sunday afternoon down on the planet below them. "The world media will be there. Sempai's going to make sure that we'll be protected and safe while we're down there. Even if Kyōichi-kun's father is the Prime Minister now, there might be some crazy out there who'll try something."

"Probably some dork that lost out on a bet," Hiroshi muttered.

Others ruefully chuckled on hearing that. "Now comes the hard part," Yukie mused.

"What's that, Yukie?" Satomi asked.

"Noriko has to write a speech."

Many of the others winced on hearing what has to happen. "Oh, man! I feel for you, Boss Lady!" Ryūhei moaned. "I really feel for you!"

* * *

Noriko's and Yukie's cabin, a few hours later . . .

"Hai, it's open."

"Greetings, Noriko. Yukie."

Both women turned, and then smiled. "Negako-sama!" Noriko called out as the ninjutsu grandmaster came into the room. Given that they were using a married couple's suite, the bond-mates had been relaxing in the small living room as the _ashi'cha_ of the _Program_ survivors typed out what she wanted to say on a dataPADD. "How are things with your counterpart here?" she asked as Yukie moved to prepare some tea for their guest. "Is Ataru-chan going to be okay? Does he have any other relative to live with?"

Negako sat down. "You remember Kyech, do you not?"

Both younger women blinked, and then Yukie gasped. "Oh, you mean K'ekhech-sama!" she said, and then turned to gaze on a still-confused Noriko. "You remember her, Noriko! She was that superpowered, red-haired Noukiite woman who led their troops down to Phentax Twelve to liberate the factory back in February!" As Noriko's eyes widened in recognition, Yukie turned back to Negako. "Did her counterpart come here?"

"Yes. One of her ch'uokyek friends advised her to do same. I arranged for her to take Ataru immediately to see Ganzo on Okusei so that the spirits of my counterpart as well as Tariko's and Hiromi's counterparts could be given bodies of their own, then they could either remain on that planet as they mature or return back to Earth. I also advised my other-self to do everything she can to prepare her soon-to-come siblings in the Art so that, if such should be needed when they eventually decide to return to Earth, they will be prepared. I also dealt with the counterparts to Sakurambō Hayao and his niece Sakura so they will not have to disturb my family's counterparts if or whenever they elect to return to Earth." Negako gazed at Noriko. "You have done much to prompt a profound evolution in the land of your birth, Noriko. But there is the chance that what you helped start may not evolve in a positive direction. It could even make matters worse. Not everyone believes in - as Abraham Lincoln once called them in his first inaugural address - the 'better angels' of human nature."

A sigh. "Hai, that's true. But we can only do so much. We can't stay here - and many of us don't WANT to stay here, even now! - so there has to be a point where it has to stop and others have to take over to press it forward." Noriko shrugged. "It's only fair, deep down. We can't take away other people's rights to make their own decisions, after all. Even if they end up making the wrong decisions."

A nod. "It is wise that you are keeping such in mind, Noriko. I understand you have been asked to provide a valedictory address to the ceremony marking your honorary graduation from Shiroiwa Junior High School. Have you composed it?"

Noriko moaned. "Not much . . . "

"Let me have the dataPADD."

She blinked, and then handed the device over. Negako took it, then tapped controls to get into _Titanic_'s mainframes to access the large collection of data - compiled from both the British Library in London and the Library of Congress in Washington, which was natural given the dual-nationality ownership of the starliner between an American parent company and a British operating company - and then she typed a name into the search engine. A moment later, she got into the file she wanted, and then downloaded same into the dataPADD. After a moment of scanning what she had copied over, she then moved to highlight a particular passage. "Read through this speech," she then stated as she handed the PADD back to Noriko. "Especially consider what was said in the highlighted section. I believe it will give you the inspiration you require, Noriko." She then rose. "I will remain with Mizuho for the remainder of this evening giving her some shiatsu treatment to help her better recover from what she endured with the Staff two days ago. If you desire further assistance, I can be contacted there. Be assured, there will be no threats in the gymnasium at school when you arrive there tomorrow morning. Ensure you also get adequate rest."

Noriko blinked, and then she nodded. "H-hai . . . "

With that, the grandmaster walked out of the room. "Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr," Yukie said as she gazed over her shoulder at the dataPADD. "Who was he?"

Noriko tapped a control to access a short biography of the person in question. "He served on the American Supreme Court back in the early part of the twentieth century," she explained, and then blinked. "He also fought in their Civil War on the Union side; he was from Massachusetts. Came out of it as a captain . . . " She then flicked off the window of the biography of the famous Supreme Court justice, then began to read . . .

* * *

Shiroiwa Junior High School, next morning . . .

"It is a beautiful thing that we are doing today," Principal Amano Masamichi stated as he gazed on the crowd in the school's gymnasium, which was now filled with all the students still attending the school, the relatives of many of the forty-two "graduates" from Class 3-B and visiting dignitaries . . . not to mention the presence of both Japanese and American special forces troops from the _Yamato_ and the _Arizona_, all ready to react if some idiot wanted to do something stupid. "For so long, ever since shortly after the end of the Greater East Asia War, given the demands of _The Program_, we educators - for the most part - dreaded the news that one of the classes we were responsible for would be asked to perform their 'solemn civic duty' to the nation and either die on the 'playing field' of that horrible 'game' . . . or ultimately survive after witnessing the deaths of friends, even loved ones.

"We now know that in all cases, those who were made to 'play' were whisked off before the final embrace of Eternity - known to the race that created the great Staff now being held by Inada Mizuho-kun here with us today as _Te'a_, 'That Which Is Above mortal understanding' - would claim their souls, to again see new life. And when they were given that new life, they chose to come back . . . to ensure that this constant bleeding out of the youth of our society would stop once and for all. And they did that not more than seventy-two hours ago. Ironically, seventy-two hours was the time any 'episode' of _The Program_ was to play out . . . so it indeed is ironic that we now move to add our own closure to that dark time in our nation's history by ending it with as much a swift finality as those horrid 'episodes' were always made to end."

He took a deep breath, and then he gazed on the forty-two young people standing on the stage nearby. "We will miss you all here. We were torn - as our nation was torn - by your struggle on Oki-shima, then torn again by your revealing to us all that you survived and wanted the justice you all so deserved . . . and which you obtained so well, while at the same time showing mercy to those who didn't deserve to be hurt. Even those of us who - while believing we understood the purpose of _The Program_ - still felt doubts, even felt pain at the loss of so many children of this land.

"But I hope - and I pray that all of us who will remain behind also hope - that you will not forget us in your new life in that different Earth ten years ahead of us now," he said, his eyes misty with tears he wouldn't shed. "That you will - even if only in spirit - still wish us the best as we struggle to make a Japan that you could have chosen to remain in hadn't Fate forced a different choice on you. We will miss you. There will be an empty hole in our school come next March when we hold the graduating ceremony for your peers that remain behind. We will always remember you. And we hope that you will do unto your new homeland what you did here. You give it new life. May the Kami, may the Buddha, may God - and may Lyna - watch over you in your lives to come."

Applause came from the crowd in response to those words, people rising to give everyone a standing ovation. Once that was done, the principal took a deep breath. "To close off this ceremony, I turn things over to Nakagawa Noriko-kun."

More applause as she walked over, exchanged bows with the principal, and then she mounted the lectern. As the clapping and cheers died away, Noriko took a breath. "Forgive me," she began. "I'm not much of a speechmaker, so I'll keep this short."

As laughter filled the gymnasium, she placed the dataPADD she had brought with her on the lectern before gazing on the audience. "For the last ten months - in my own personal timeline and in the timeline of all my classmates - I often spent nights thinking about why _The Program_ existed. Why did this ultimate 'no-win' scenario, where we were asked to kill or be killed, was forced on us. What it meant for all of us who went through it . . . as well as for those who watched it from the sidelines. I'm not going to render some final judgement on what it ultimately did and didn't do to Japan and those who call these ancient islands home. I'll leave that to the historians in the years to come to figure out . . . and no doubt, debate until they're all hoarse in the mouth." As the audience laughed, she then took another deep breath. "But I do want to say something about what it will mean for those who it touched the most. Not just us who went through with it . . . but our peers who were spared from it.

"Some people have said in the last forty-eight hours - and perhaps before that both here and abroad - that _The Program_ was established as a way of suppressing the spread of juvenile delinquency among the people of our age group in Japan. That because the adults of this land were more concerned about their own personal survival . . . that the leaders of the state ultimately felt they had no choice but to take into their own hands the duty that parents and guardians must exercise to teach their children and wards personal discipline. To respect, protect and help develop the society they are a part of. So they did it. And because we lived in a dictatorship that was so ironclad when it came to controlling all our lives, when the brutal costs finally began to sink into people's minds, there was no realistic way for people to say, 'Hey, this is wrong! We must stop this!'"

She then bowed her head. "But I can - we who were aboard _Freedom_ all can - understand the fear that helped contribute to _The Program_. The fear that we - the generations that grew up WITHOUT experiencing such a shattering world war that lasted fifteen years in the Pacific and six in Europe - would _**not**_ appreciate what had been given to us. That we would move to _**destroy**_ what others who gladly gave the full measure of their devotion sought to protect and save. And perhaps - even if the response to that concern was something that was so barbaric that it will cast an eternal shadow onto what those people did that WAS good, such as show that different races could live side-by-side in equality - something might happen which could lead down that dark path. A path that you, my friends, might take . . . either on purpose or by accident.

"And while there's nothing further my friends and I can do to help point the way - for we really have no right to jab our fingers into your collective backs and say 'this is wrong' since we won't be living here anymore - perhaps there is one thing we could do before we depart from these shores for the last time," she stated. "As I was trying to come up with this speech last night, Moroboshi Negako-sama came to my cabin aboard _Titanic_ and showed me a speech our American friends with us today and listening in to us on CNN might recognise. Especially with a phrase that was given prominence in a special mini-series produced for their PBS network back in 1990 on the terrible civil war that nearly shattered that nation over five years in the 1860s.

"A speech given by Oliver Wendell Holmes, who served as a captain in the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment during that war - and who would later serve for thirty years on the Supreme Court of the United States - on the thirtieth of May in 1884 had this to say when it came to understanding how that war came to affect the generation that lived through it . . . as well as the generations to come in their wake as they built a nation that was nearly ripped apart in his youth." She took a breath. "'_We know that, if the armies of our war did anything worth remembering, the credit belongs not mainly to the individuals who did it, but to average human nature. We also know very well that we cannot live in associations with the past alone, and we admit that, if we would be worthy of the past, we must find new fields for action or thought, and make for ourselves new careers. But, nevertheless, the generation that carried on the war has been set apart by its experience. Through our great good fortune . . . _'"

She stared at them all. "'_In our youths . . . our hearts were touched with fire._'"

People remained silent - many of the young people there, who had never heard of the legendary juror from Massachusetts, now spellbound by what their friend and soon-to-be former schoolmate was saying - as she finished, "'_It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing. While we are permitted to scorn nothing but indifference, and do not pretend to undervalue the worldly rewards of ambition, we have seen with our own eyes, beyond and above the gold fields, the snowy heights of honour, and it is for us to bear the report to those who come after us._'" Noriko then stared at them. "Even now, there are many in this land that are still afraid of the 'fire' Holmes-sensei spoke up that burns in the hearts of all of our peers who are growing up here today in this land. But my friends and I ask you - no, we _**plead**_ with you! - to look upon that fire not as something that can destroy.

"But something that can _**forge**_ new things . . . and a new future."

She paused as the audience began to applaud, many of the younger people getting on their feet and cheering her on. Noriko smiled, her cheeks reddening as she waited for the noise to die down, and then she moved to finish, "You out there that probably felt at times that _The Program_ was there to protect you from the fire in the hears of my generation burning you and the land you lived in . . . probably now feel as if an inferno will soon engulf Japan. I ask you to not think that. I ask you all to do as those who once forged the katana a samurai bore unto battle in ages past to protect what he had vowed to protect even at the cost of his life. I ask you to _harness_ the fire!

"For as Holmes-sensei said at the end of what I just quoted to you . . . ALL of you must answer for what you choose to do in the future to those generations who have yet to be born. You must give them reason for accepting what you chose to do that will lead to the world they will be born into . . . or else it will be THEY who will burn away all you have created. Is that what you want? Do you wish to create the ground for a civil war that could arise from that just because you don't want to see past your fears? We hope not," she said as she waved to her classmates. "And we hope . . . and deep down we _**know!**_ - that you will do the right thing. For your future . . . and yourselves."

She then picked up the dataPADD and moved to stand before her friends. They stood to attention before bowing to the audience. "Be well, all of you," Noriko said before tapping the PADD's communication control. "Nakagawa to _Titanic_. Beam us up."

"Understood, Noriko-san," a voice called back. "Energising."

They then disappeared in a sparkle of energy as the audience applauded, many of their peers crying out their farewells. As the crowd then moved to depart, many of the people there came over to where the Moroboshi siblings - who (save for Negako, of course) had all dressed in their Tomobiki High school uniforms in a show of solidarity to their new friends - were standing to thank them or pass on messages to those who had just left that they didn't get the chance to do so earlier. As Ataru and Tariko both moved to take the letters from the students and stuff them into bags for transport up to the _Titanic_ so they could be read, Hiromi was quick to sense two military officers - a Navy commander and an Army lieutenant-colonel, both in formal dress uniforms, golden aiguillettes marking them as aides-de-camp to civilian officials wrapped around their arms - gazing her way. Realising they wanted to talk to her, she walked over. "Is there something I can do to assist you gentlemen?" she said as she gazed curiously at them.

Both officers perked, and then the Navy officer sighed. "A simple question to be answered, Moroboshi-sama," he stated. "How much did you help Noriko-san and her friends when you went aboard the _Freedom_ to meet with them before Friday?"

Hiromi perked, and then she chuckled. "I assume both of you were involved in the Republic's moves to counter the _Freedom_'s presence over Japan?"

"We were officers assigned as liaison personnel from the Intelligence Bureau to Internal Security," the Army officer stated. "We were there at the Matsushiro complex outside Nagano when the Staff ended up killing off all the Central Committee members, including Interior Security Ministry Tsugawa. As Mikiya-kun here stated when that happened, it was pretty nicely played on Noriko-san's part. We guess a lot about what was going on and why . . . but we didn't predict the Staff at all."

"Ah, professional curiosity you mean?" Hiromi asked. At the colonel's blush, she sighed. "All I did in the end was give them the hope that they could live in my dimension - as the creation of their new bodies guaranteed that would happen - and remind them that as they are all Avalonians, they should consider using a psychic attack on those who authored their sufferings in _The Program_ in lieu of resorting to mere 'terror bombing' in the style the Germans, the British and the Americans unleashed on their enemies in the European side of the Greater East Asia War." A shrug. "After all, what would doing that ultimately have done?" She then sighed as she gave them a knowing look. "So you both had your doubts, eh?" she asked.

"Not as often as we should have," the commander confessed.

"Oh, enough! That you had them speaks of your humanity, Commander! Be proud that you did feel that way, even if not as much as Shinji-san's late uncle did!" the reborn emperor scolded. "I will not judge you - or anyone else, in uniform or not - who were in those places when the Staff unleashed the wrath of the _Program_ victims onto those they wanted to see suffer. Where is the border between simply 'obeying orders' and being responsible for something that could be called a 'war crime?' You didn't know - and you weren't _encouraged_ - to consider that in your duties. That you had doubts alone demonstrates that you can define the border I spoke of just now and adhere to it. Those who Noriko-san and her friends elected to strike down . . . had no doubts at all." Her eyebrow arched. "What, I therefore ask, does that say about them?"

"She has a good point," the commander noted to his friend.

"Hai, she does," the colonel stated before both stood to attention and saluted her. "You have our thanks, Director. And please pass on our compliments to Noriko-san for both her leadership over her friends . . . and her restraint."

"Please have a safe voyage home," the commander said.

Hiromi smiled as she gave them the classic fist-in-palm salute of old China, bowing her head. "May your futures be bright . . . for yourselves and your home country." She then sighed. "Now if you'll excuse us, we ourselves need to return to our proper place in the space-time continuum." A wry smile then crossed her face as she turned away, muttering. "Re-setting the shipboard chronometers **_alone _**will be such a chore . . . "

As she headed off, both Sanada Mikiya and Anjō Gō blinked. "Um, Mikiya-kun . . . do you think that when we come together with their counterparts here, we'll be running into that sort of thing?" the just-promoted colonel then wondered.

"I think so," Sanada answered, nodding, and then he perked as something came to him. "You want to know something, Gō-kun?"

"What?"

"The future will be quite exciting to watch."

Anjō considered that, and then he grinned. "That it will . . . "

_**To be concluded . . .**_


	26. Epilogue: Starfleet

**EPILOGUE - STARFLEET**

Captain's Log, Stardate 50411.2,_  
U.S.S. _Enterprise_ is now on course to Starbase 12 to attend a dual-christening ceremony, held jointly by Starfleet and the construction workers of both the San Francisco Fleet Yards and the Port Weller Spacedocks. Accompanying us on this journey is the former crew of U.S.S. _Bozeman_ under Captain Morgan Bateson, who were involved in an unsanctioned fleet operation against the current Klingon incursion into Cardassian space several weeks ago, an operation that also forced him to confront an old enemy from the area of the Typhon Expanse, Commander Kozara of Qo'noS. I am quite pleased to report that Captain Bateson and his shipmates will all form the core commissioning crew of the new U.S.S. _Bozeman_ NCC-1941-A, a Sovereign-class explorer and sistership of the current _Enterprise_, which will bring Starfleet's combat strength back to levels that have not been seen since the Battle of Wolf 359 over six years ago.  
Also accompanying us is Captain James T. Kirk, late of the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-A, which was returned to Class A readiness reserve at the Lunar Maintenance Facility Alpha in the wake of the commissioning of the _Enterprise_-E so as to avoid the confusion of having two active starships with the same name and nearly the same registry number. He - along with Captain Montgomery Scott - will form part of the command team of the prototype of a new series of escort cruisers, physically derived from the Intrepid-class but possessing armament similar to the Defiant-class escorts.  
This voyage also gives Captain Kirk the chance to spend some time with his daughter, Cadet Fourth Class Carol Kirk, who is doing a study cruise aboard the _Enterprise_ after passing her first academic year at the Academy with flying colours. I suspect that when she finishes her cruise, she will return to the Academy and be promptly promoted to Cadet Third Class for her sophomore year.  
However, much to the astonishment and even the annoyance of all of us who know Captains Kirk and Scott personally, no one aboard __at this time - not even Captain Bateson - is aware of the name of the prototype cruiser my esteemed predecessor as captain of the _Enterprise_ will soon be asked to command . . ._

* * *

Approaching Starbase 12 . . .

"I'm sorry, Geordi. You cannae ask us a thing until we get there."

The group of senior officers seated at the round table in Ten Forward, who either were playing the usual game of poker that the _Enterprise_'s current command staff had begun to indulge in since they came together before the Farpoint mission or were watching things, all gave the engineering captain a mixture of looks, ranging from flat-out pleading to simply curious. "Oh, c'mon, Scotty!" Geordi La Forge - who had surprised both Jim Kirk and Montgomery Scott on first meeting the _Enterprise_'s current chief engineer for the first time in over a year by his now wearing ocular implants in lieu of the VISOR that he had possessed for so long - pleaded. "A clue, at least!"

"And ye are nae gettin' that either, lad!" Scott declared before sipping his glass of synthetic Saurian brandy. "We are under direct orders from a whole raft of admirals, fleet admirals - AND the C-in-C herself! - to say nothin' about our wee bonnie new lass. Lord knows, we went through one near-court martial after we picked up Mister Spock's body from the Genesis Planet after borrowin' the first _Enterprise_, then havin' tae scuttle the poor lass over the planet to get rid of that monster Kruge. And Jim here went through that hearin' when it came to poor Ben Finney before that! We are nae interested in undergoin' that, so ye have to just sit back and wait!"

"Why keep such a name secret, though?" Morgan Bateson asked. He was playing a round in the game, as was his first officer, Commander Gabe Bush.

"It concerns the Interplanetary Confederation of Planets, Morgan," Kirk replied.

Silence fell over the scene as people considered that; many of them had long known of that cluster of human-inhabited worlds deep in the heart of Beta Quadrant - which could only be quickly reached by several wormholes that terminated either within the space of the Romulan Star Empire or in unclaimed space near the Klingon Empire - and the unofficial decision to hold off on any attempts at making full contact with those worlds at this time. "Are you going to be asked to lead the first contact with Tokzheto, sir?" William Riker wondered.

"No, Will, I'm not. A first contact with them is still many years away," the captain of the first two starships named _Enterprise_ replied. "However, given recent events concerning the breakdown of the Khitomer Accords between ourselves and the Klingons after they declared war on the Cardassians, it was felt that bringing out names of known or suspected ships serving in the Royal Tokzhetoan Navy to give to ships in Starfleet might get Gowron and the people under him to think twice about pushing matters with us to a state of an all-out war." He paused as he moved to shift his cards around. "Before this decision was made, Fleet Admiral Shyrae consulted with High Councillor Heva about this."

"And the Romulans support this?" Deanna Troi asked.

"They were taken really aback by the Klingons move on Cardassia Prime," Kirk stated. "And they're also aware of the Dominion's move into this quadrant. That's something NO ONE wants. The Senate on Romulus is debating whether or not to send a delegation to Tokzheto to solicit possible military aide from the Council of Monarchs in case the Dominion gets a little too ambitious. Once a decision is made, Heva will then send a message to Shyrae . . . which will hopefully tell the Federation Council that the way is now clear to send a starship out to Tokzheto under Romulan escort. Whichever ship is available at that time will get to be the lucky ship to make the trip."

The others at the table nodded. "How will the Founders react to that?" Bush asked. "There's already talk about their infiltrating Starfleet Command and the Council; look what Captain Sisko had to deal with when he got assigned back to Earth?"

The others nodded; the after-effects of the attack on the Antwerp Conference the previous summer had sent a lot of shockwaves through the higher echelons of Starfleet. "They may try - if they haven't done so already - to infiltrate the Confederation after setting up a base of operations somewhere in Romulan territory," Picard noted. "However, I once heard from a friend of mine in Section 31 that the Questor population within the worlds of the Confederation is proportionally higher in comparison to the Federation and our neighbouring powers. They seem to have the ability to sense out changelings without the necessity of actually going out and doing blood tests." He gazed on the young woman seated beside her father, the lowest-ranked person at the table. "You were quite quick to detect one at the Academy, weren't you, Miss Kirk?"

Carol Kirk shrugged. "He just didn't 'feel' right to me, Captain," the first-year Academy cadet stated; she was sitting out this round. "I don't know if this is an ability that Questors like me possess or if it's specific to myself alone. I was 'born' in _Haida_'s sickbay, after all. Surrounded by all that meson they use."

The others nodded. "Are they doing tests on you?" Beverly Crusher asked.

"Nothing too invasive. At least these days," the young cadet reported, smirking in amusement. "As soon as she came back from her sabbatical, Admiral Brand did a review of everything that was being done concerning me, then told Professor Chapman to either decrease the amount of tests to once a week or she'll have him reassigned to Station K-7!"

People chuckled. "Well, Andrea actually had two of her crew Cross Into the Fold thanks to a Questor who was aboard the _McKay_ at the time after they nearly died thanks to septic Rigellian fever," Picard noted. "What did you do with that changeling?"

"I cut open one of the veins on the back of my hand to let it bleed out, then punched him right in his gut," Carol replied, which made many of the people there laugh in delight. "It seems that Founders don't like coming into physical contact with Questor blood cells. It nearly made him fall apart, but he lived. I wasn't interested in killing the poor fellow. We got him put into a containment tank and then I called Captain Sisko; this was just before he was allowed to go back to Deep Space Nine."

"Is he interested in getting you out there?" Picard wondered.

A shrug. "I might consider doing time there during my sophomore break from classes. And it all depends on what's going on in and around Bajor, of course. Being at the choke-point between our quadrant and the Dominion's quadrant is probably making things really exciting for Commander Worf and his friends there."

The others nod. "Shall we continue?" Data asked.

"Let's," Riker affirmed . . .

* * *

Sometime later . . .

"You're a pretty sharp card player, Captain."

"Oh, I've played several times on occasion, even if I normally prefer 2D, 3D or 4D chess. I actually got the chance to play with both Spock and his father a few times after the Babel Conference concerning Coridan's entry into the Federation," Kirk mused as people relaxed in Ten-Forward; the _Enterprise_ was not due to arrive at Starbase 12 for another three hours. "That was just before the fun we all had in TNC-65813." He gave Picard a knowing look on saying that, which the other man acknowledged with a nod. "I hope you got the note I left in the Archives about that."

Picard sighed. "It was delivered to me right after we got back to Earth. Ironically, Lieutenant-Commander T'Resa - whom you met on Gateway at the Ellison Research Outpost when you last visited the Guardian of Forever - is now the captain in charge of the Archives." A smile. "Spock's calculations were dead on."

"What happened to Mister Cochrane?" Kirk asked.

A sigh. "We were attacked by a Romulan ship right after we emerged from the event horizon; they and the Ferengi were coerced into the attempt made on the professor that started in your time. The _Ian Shelton_ was severely damaged before we could have retrieved either Professor Cochrane or his companion. We . . . " Picard sighed. "We took them back to Gamma Canaris. The asteroid they had been living on in your time had literally fallen apart by then; from what we later deduced, the Companion's power was interlinked with the asteroid. We position the ship where the professor's home would have been in relation to the sun and . . . " A shake of the head. "They passed on . . . "

"Damn!" the other captain breathed out.

"It's a pity none of my type was there at the time," Carol mused.

They gazed at her, and then Kirk reached over to squeeze his daughter's shoulder. "Not everyone is fit to either become like you or have a daughter like you, Carol," he said before taking a sip of his coffee. "I assume it was Thorsen, right?"

"Yes," Picard affirmed. "Your letter told me that in your time, he had allowed himself to be augmented with Grigari technology to keep him alive so he could continue his quest for the professor and gain the ability to create and make use of a warp bomb. By the time we had to deal with him, he had evolved into a pure-energy form of life, which allowed him to seize control of Data's body so he could pilot the _Enterprise_-D into the event horizon of TNC-65813 to capture the _Shelton_."

"I hope that monster's dead, sir," Scott snarled; he remembered the hideous damage the original _Enterprise_ had taken in that incredible manoeuvre back in 2267 where she had encountered her namesake from many decades in the future.

"Oh, he's gone alright, Scotty," Picard assured him. "His matrix managed to get into what we believed was an object the Preservers created; that had been the vehicle by which he was able to come aboard the _Enterprise_ in the first place. After shutting Data off and rebooting his systems, it returned to that object. I had it beamed off the ship at maximum particle dispersal. Be assured, Adrik Thorsen is gone."

"Or so we hope."

Eyes locked on Carol. "You can't recover from being beamed out into individual quantum particles spread over a cubic kilometre of space, Miss Kirk," Picard advised.

She blinked as she considered that, and then she sighed. "I know about the Grigori and their technology, Captain. I talked to Admiral Shyrae about it once when I was undergoing personal weekend tutorials with her at the Academy. Believe it or not - at least, this is what Questors who've contacted them have learned - their technology was actually developed as a way to give members of their race and those who sought that technology the chance to live like a Questor." She sipped her cocoa. "And I know about how Thorsen had broken into the Archives to get at the sealed logs Dad had made concerning the whole thing with the professor, the Companion and Commissioner Hedford." She tapped the side of her head in emphasis to indicate the memories she had absorbed from her father on her initial activation. "If there is even a _fragment_ of Thorsen's psyche out there, Captain, it's probably either sitting around waiting for the time that someone ends up doing research which might lead down the road to a warp bomb - even thought we all know it's impossible - or it might have gone off to wherever Phillip Green and the rest of those Optimum clowns might be hiding."

"IF they're still alive," Bateson warned.

A sigh. "The chance might be there, Morgan," Picard warned, nodding in agreement.

"From the Tokzhetoans, you mean?" Scott wondered.

"No. Not there," Picard assured the senior engineer. "I learned this from my friend in Section 31. When the final migrations to Tokzheto were completed in the mid-2070s just as the Third World War was reaching its climax, those of the Optimum who somehow managed to get through all the screening the ancient Tokzhetoans set up to prevent their moving to that world were rounded up and put through a war crimes trial at the direct order of the Council of Monarchs . . . which included intensive telepathic interrogation, something akin to 'mind-raping' as our Avalonian friends in _Haida_'s universe would call it, I believe." A sigh. "And then they were public executed in a most gruesome fashion to make sure the message got out."

"'Never walk down this path again,'" Kirk noted. "There is Icaria, also."

Everyone perked on hearing that. "'Icaria?'" Bateson asked.

"It was a splinter group of the Optimum that was founded supposedly by Eve Green, Colonel Green's sister, in the 2060s, sometime after First Contact," Picard explained. "While they first seemed to espouse the same purification goals as the parent movement, the Icarians eventually opened the doors to peoples of all races and cultures to join in, thus making them far more acceptable to humanity as a whole. People who were tired of war, sickness and poor living conditions . . . and wanted to find some way to completely wipe the slate clean, remove the weight of the past from their shoulders, then go forth to start over again." He smiled at the captain of the _Bozeman_. "It appears that on meeting the Vulcans for the first time, the founders of the Icarian Movement - especially Ms. Green - saw in Vulcan logic and their theories of IDIC a better way to help humanity evolve and become 'socially optimal,' which became their goal instead of the simply 'physical optimal' state their parent movement espoused." A sigh. "It is said - though there were no living witnesses that could confirm this, especially no living witnesses with memories of the incident . . . " - he gazed on Carol when he said that - " . . . that the Icarians were responsible for helping the Canadian Special Operations Regiment under Colonel Jameston destroy Space Station Perfection in 2079. In doing so, that let them mask their own escape from Earth to whichever planet they settled on eventually."

"Does anyone know where that planet is?" Scott asked.

"No, but several ships that did depart Earth around that time eventually made landfall on a planet they later named Phaëton; it's not too far away from Pacifica." A look of pride then crossed Picard's face as he added, "It was the _Stargazer_ that made first contact with the Phaëtons shortly after I assumed command in 2333. As a matter of fact, several Phaëtons serve as officers aboard the _Enterprise_ now."

"What are they like?" Kirk wondered.

"For some odd reason, the actual environment on Phaëton allowed the colonists there to start developing highly intensive telepathic abilities - virtually on the same scale as the Vulcans, the Betazoids and the Avalonians - within two generations. Some people claimed that because many of the original colonists were augments left over from the Eugenics Wars - joined by second-generation augments like those who formed the core membership of both the Optimum and the Icarian Movement - the environment of Phaëton allowed them to develop such powers AND gave them better control the physical enhancements they possessed already," Picard stated. "That forced them to amend some of their stricter Optimum-derived laws. Many of the people who were born with any physical genetic defects that they would have originally euthanized later proved to possess telepathic powers of a nature which would make them rank at the same level as fully-trained Vulcan healers. They still are quite strict and formal in an almost Vulcan-like way, but they gladly embrace - and do everything they can to protect - the ancient traditions of all the peoples that eventually formed the first generation of colonists." He perked as someone came into the lounge. "Speaking of which . . . "

Everyone turned as a woman in operations gold went up to the bar to order something. She then perked before looking over at the assembled captains, and then - after holding up a finger to advise them she would come over to join them as soon as she could - waited for her drink to be served before she did walk over. Gazing on her, Kirk was quick to note that she appeared to be in her mid-twenties, with a pageboy cut to her strawberry blonde hair, twinkling deep brown eyes peeking out from a face that made her seem younger if cast in the right light. She had lieutenant-commander's pips on the collar stand sticking out from under the new black field jacket - which had been modelled after the inclement-weather jacket worn by the crew of H.M.C.S. _Haida_ when she had visited the Federation's home universe over a year before - all shipboard and station-bound personnel in Starfleet wore these days. Also in salute to what the Canadians on their starship had possessed, the field jackets had epaulettes with slip-ons over them, they possessing stitched-on rank insignia with coloured department trimming bordering the edges of the slip-on. And her family name and the initials of her given name was on a cloth nametag over her right breast. The arrowhead-shaped communicator all Starfleet personnel wore as common kit had its place on the left breast.

"Commander Greene," Kirk said as she came up. "Captain Picard was just telling us of your home planet."

Alyssa Greene perked on hearing that, and then she gave him a polite smile. "Hopefully, as soon as you assume command of your ship and elect to take her out on trials, Captain Kirk, you might take the chance to visit Phaëton and see it for yourself." She then turned to Carol, giving her the look any motherly officer always did to a subordinate who was skirting the line towards being accused of dereliction of duty. "As for you, Cadet, you better head to your quarters to rest up for a bit. You may be a Questor, but you need the chance to sleep and dream like any other sentient being. You want to be fresh and ready for your father's big day, remember?"

Carol jerked, and then her cheeks flamed. "Sorry, Commander."

Alyssa thumbed the doorway. "Go!"

After a quick hug and kiss to her father, the cadet was off, allowing the commander to take her place. "I hope you're nae bein' too strict with her, are ye, lass?" Scott asked before he sipped his own flute of brandy.

"I have to be, Captain," the younger officer admitted. "She may look like she's having a good time, but she has a lot of expectations on her shoulders even if her teachers back in San Francisco are trying not to compare her too much to her father." An amused look was directed Kirk's way, and then she added, "I may not be able to scan her mind like I can other Questors I've met - the other Phaëtons aboard the ship have the same problem with her - but I can tell she's under a lot of pressure." A shake of the head. "She even confessed to Robin Lefler that everyone at the Academy is running a pool to determine what'll happen when she has to face the _Kobayashi Maru_." A shake of the head. "It's a pity we're losing Robin to the _Excalibur_ . . . "

"I assume your telepathy is governed under the same type of ethics that Vulcans use to govern their powers, Commander," Kirk noted.

A nod. "Yes, sir. Actually, I'm considered so high-psi among my culture that people - both from home and from Vulcan - have often asked me why I never went for psi-medical training instead of working as a systems engineer."

"I dinnae remember seeing ye on the old _Enterprise_ when we were busy dealin' with _Haida_ and those Klingons," Scott noted. "Where were ye, lass?"

Alyssa sighed. "All the Phaëtons who were aboard at the time missed out on that thanks to the Foundation Day festival on our homeworld, Captain. That is mandatory attendance even if you're serving in Starfleet," she admitted. "Since I myself am descent from a relative of Founder Greene, I HAD to go there. And my friends who were aboard the _Enterprise_ - as they had trained with me at the Academy and at the various psi-schools back home - had to be there as well, acting as my ceremonial ladies-in-waiting for the services honouring those who had died to help us be free of both the Optimum and the more oppressive elements of humanity's past." A shrug. "It was a pity, especially after what Deanna told me about the Avalonians and what they could do. I would have loved to meet one of them."

"I'm sure it would have been quite an experience," Picard noted, and then a sly grin crossed his face. "By the way, Commander, if you wouldn't mind . . .?"

"I'm not probing, sir," the younger woman said as her eyes twinkled with mirth. "We all got private messages from Admiral Shyrae about this. As much as Captain Kirk and Captain Scott want to avoid court-martial, so do we!"

As Kirk and Scott both laughed, Picard sighed. "Well, I tried . . . "

The others at the table all broke down and chuckled at that admission . . .

* * *

Starbase 12, six hours later . . .

"Captain Morgan Bateson, will you join us, please?"

Bateson smiled as he stood up and walked over to stand on the lectern beside Fleet Admiral Alynna Nechayev, who had come to the base near the Typhon Expanse to preside over the commissioning ceremony of the new U.S.S. _Bozeman_. Such was now being held in the starbase's main observation gallery, with the beautiful new starship looming in the near distance, her name and pendant number NCC-1941-A prominently displayed on the upper primary hull forward of her main bridge. Like all other serving personnel currently working in Starfleet in any sort of operational capacity, Nechayev - who had been promoted to her current rank and position as Chief of Fleet Operations over two years before - was dressed in the new field jacket, with her name on her breast under the circular Starfleet Command patch; she had just announced that ship, station and formation patches would become part of the uniform again after an absence of over a hundred years since _Enterprise_'s asymmetrical arrowhead insignia became Starfleet-wide norm in the wake of the original starship's second five-year mission, the first commanded by Jim Kirk. "Admiral," the captain said as he bowed his head to her.

Nechayev then turned to the smartly-dressed civilian standing to her other side. "Chief Director Leonetti, will you please begin," she bade.

The chief director of the San Francisco Fleet Yards, retired Commodore Matthew Leonetti, bowed his head, and then took up the PADD that he was using for his part of the handover for the commissioning. "Attention to orders!" he called out with the same crispness a captain would show when he moved to be relieved of duty. As the people gathered to watch this all stood to attention, he then gazed on the PADD. "From Starfleet Command, to Commodore (retired) Matthew Leonetti, Chief Director of Ship Production, San Francisco Fleet Yards, San Francisco, California, Earth. You, on behalf of your organisation, are hereby requested and required to relinquish all control of the Sovereign-class deep space explorer U.S.S. _Bozeman_, naval construction contract number One-Nine-Four-One-Alpha, to Starfleet in the person of Captain Morgan Bateson, former commanding officer of U.S.S. _Enterprise_, naval construction contract number One-Seven-Zero-One-Echo, so he may assume operational command of U.S.S. _Bozeman_ effective Stardate 50411.5. Signed, Peter Lauritson, Admiral, Chief of Fleet Acquisitions, Starfleet Command, San Francisco, California, Earth." He then tapped a control. "Computer, release and transfer all command codes to Captain Morgan Bateson. Voice authorization, Leonetti-Sierra-Foxtrot-Eight-Four-Two-Six-Nine. Acknowledge."

"_Transfer complete_," the _Bozeman_'s main computer replied over the communications link. "_United Starship _Bozeman_ now under command of Captain Morgan Bateson._"

The retired engineering commodore turned and presented the PADD to Bateson, who accepted said device with both hands. "Master Shipwright Leonetti," the former border patrol cutter commander said, addressing Leonetti with the traditional title bestowed to the head of a shipyard. "On behalf of the sentients of the United Federation of Planets, I humbly accept the ship you have so diligently produced with thanks."

"May you always return to port, Captain," Leonetti said in return.

"Thank you, sir." He then turned to Nechayev. "I await my orders, Admiral."

"Prepare your ship for full operational duty," the fleet admiral stated. "Perform all the necessary tests and trails she requires to ensure all is well, then report to the commodore in command of Starbase 12 for your first operational assignment."

"I understand, Admiral."

And with that, it was done. The crowd applauded the simple ceremony that had turned _Bozeman_ from just a product created by a civilian-run shipyard into an official Starfleet "ship of the line," as Bateson had come to address the _Enterprise_ shortly after she herself had been officially welcomed into the fleet. After sharing a handshake with both Nechayev and Leonetti, Bateson turned to face those of his crew standing there. "A serving of grog for thirsty border cutter crewmen!" he barked out, which earned him a wild cheer from his old and present shipmates and applause from all the others. "Crew mixer is on tonight at twenty-hundred sharp! Everyone's invited!"

Another wild cheer from most of the people present. In Starfleet, whenever a ship was either initially commissioned or had come out of a long overhaul period, the crew held an on-board gathering - "mixer" as it was traditionally called - as a way of allowing everyone heading into space after a period ashore to debrief themselves of their time away from front-line service, thus free them of any worries and allow them to properly focus on the mission ahead. The types of mixer held aboard such ships varied depending on how the crew and captain viewed these things. Some held formal meetings and dinners with heavy protocol and fine foods. Others went the formal dance route with snacks and very good music. Along that line, one ship Jim Kirk had learned about - the _Enterprise_'s and _Bozeman_'s sistership, the current U.S.S. _Constellation_ NCC-1017-F under Captain Aya Nakajima, which had been commissioned right after the name-ship of the class, the U.S.S. _Sovereign_ - actually held a karaoke song-fest; "You have to listen to Aya to believe how good she is, Jim. Even FERENGI are taken away by her," Jean-Luc Picard had told him about the young native of Tōkyō and her singing voice. Still others had what were essentially panel discussion-like affairs, where people got up and talked about what they did. And there were those ships that just threw a no-holds-barred party. The original _Bozeman_, as a border cutter, always held a mixer in the last style, as did the original _Enterprise_ under Jim Kirk's command. The current _Enterprise_ tended to lean more to a more sedate gathering of people in Ten-Forward, with classical music and relaxed formality, but nothing that made people feel stiff and uncomfortable.

"Excuse me!" Nechayev then called out to calm everyone down. "Much that I am also looking forward to a good old fashioned border cutter mixer, we're not done here yet!" As the people in the crowd all laughed, she then nodded her thanks as both Bateson and Leonetti stepped off the podium. "And now . . . Captain James Kirk."

Another wild cheer echoed through the room as the veteran commanding officer of two previous starships named _Enterprise_ made his way onto the lectern. Soon to join him and Nechayev there was an elderly man dressed in the traditional robes of a shaman from one of the native tribes of North America. Gazing at the fellow, Picard felt a curious sense of familiarity - he had seen robes like that before, though he couldn't place exactly where that had happened or what time it had occurred - as the man then drew out a medicinal cane bearing feathers to give Kirk a blessing in his ancient native tongue. At the end of that - all watching this had fallen respectfully silent during the blessing - the shaman stepped back to allow a young woman in more modern clothes the chance to come up and join the fleet admiral and the captain.

She drew out her own PADD and then called out, "May I have your attention, please?" People steadied themselves in respect - the woman who had said those words had not barked out the traditional "attention to orders" which would have marked her as a retired Starfleet officer, but as head of a shipyard, she deserved the same type of respect as Matthew Leonetti - as she then moved to read: "From Starfleet Command, to Master Shipwright Caroline Linwell, Senior Architect of Starship Construction, Port Weller Spacedocks, Saint Catharines, Ontario, Earth. You, on behalf of your organisation, are hereby requested and required to relinquish all control of the Tribal-class deep space escort cruiser christened U.S.S. _Haida_, naval experimental number Six-Three-Two-One-Five, to Starfleet in the person of Captain James T. Kirk, former commanding officer of U.S.S. _Enterprise_, naval construction contract number One-Seven-Zero-One-Alpha, so he may assume operational command of the aforementioned U.S.S. _Haida_ effective Stardate 50411.5. Signed, Peter Lauritson, Admiral, Chief of Fleet Acquisitions, Starfleet Command, San Francisco, California, Earth." She then tapped a control. "Computer, release and transfer all command codes to Captain James T. Kirk. Voice authorization, Linwell-Six-Two-One-One-Eight-Four-Delta. Acknowledge."

As people in the crowd gasped on hearing that name, the voice of said ship's main computer crisply replied, "_Transfer complete. United Starship _Haida_ now under command of Captain James T. Kirk, effective Stardate 50411.5._"

"Master Shipwright Linwell," Kirk said with a deep bow of his head as he accepted the PADD. "On behalf of the sentients of the United Federation of Planets, I humbly accept the ship you have so diligently produced with thanks."

"May you always return to port, Captain," Linwell said in return.

"Thank you, ma'am." He then turned to Nechayev. "My orders, Admiral?"

"Prepare your ship for full systems trials," the fleet admiral stated. "Perform all necessary tests and trails she requires to ensure all is well, then report to the commodore in command of Starbase 12 for your first operational assignment."

Another bow of his head. "Understood, Admiral."

People cheered . . .

* * *

In orbit around Starbase 12 . . .

The starship U.S.S. _Haida_, pendant number NX-63215, was built around the basic Intrepid-class hull shape: An oval-shaped primary hull merged directly into the secondary hull to cut away any potential drag when she was in warp. Her two warp nacelles, however, were mounted in the same fashion as what was seen on an Ambassador-class ship: sticking out and above from her sides on the aft end of the secondary hull, the interconnecting pylons built at right angles. However, the shape was all that _Haida_ shared with older ships like _Intrepid_; the Tribal-class - all to be named after the famous escort destroyers that had served the nations of the British Empire and later the British Commonwealth throughout the Twentieth and early Twenty-First centuries, with more tribal names to be added (with the permission of the leaders of said tribes) from Earth and beyond if the class proved to be successful - was well over fifty percent larger than ships like the missing U.S.S. _Voyager_. And with the larger mass came a crew compliment that equalled the old Constitution-class ships in their heyday. And given her expected mission of both exploration and escort in times of conflict, the armament _Haida_ possessed made her the fighting equal of the modern _Enterprise_.

"So that fellow was actually an elder of the Haida?"

Jim Kirk nodded. Several of the _Enterprise_'s senior crew had been invited aboard the smaller ship for a quick tour before they would return to their own ship and head on their next mission . . . after a chance to visit the crew of _Bozeman_ for their commissioning mixer. "It turns out that when a ship is named after a ship that served in the surface navies of any of Earth's nations - or any planet's space fleets before they joined the Federation - the local head-of-state has to give permission before the name is 'transferred' full-time to Starfleet for future use. In _Haida_'s case, that rested on Her Excellency, the Governor-General of Canada acting on behalf of His Majesty, the King. Not to mention the leaders of the Haida Gwaii as it is their tribe's namesake that's been 'reborn' in this very ship."

Hearing that, the visitors all nodded. While Earth was said to have a "united" government these days, the traditional nations that had existed on that planet before 2150 were still marked as being in existence even if the governments that "ruled" them were mostly ceremonial; the title of the planetary government was, to this day, still called "the United Nations of Earth" despite the simpler preference for "United Earth" in local government circles. "So what do you intend to do with her, Jim?" Picard asked as he leaned on the safety rail dividing the upper stations with the central chair and the accompanying chairs for the first officer and the ship's counsellor.

"Spend time getting to know my crew, then putting her through all the paces Scotty and I can think up for her. And more beyond that," Kirk replied, and then he looked over at the tactical station on the starboard side of the upper level. "Major Mason, do you think we're ready to take her out for a sub-light test flight around?"

"Yes, sir! All tactical systems are ready at your command," the smiling Marine Corps major with the mixed Terran-Vulcan features replied.

"I didn't notice you there, Major Mason. And congratulations on your promotion," Picard said as he walked over to accept the offered handshake from T'Thelaih Mason. "How did you get involved in this project?"

"Captain Kirk requested my presence here given what I learned of how another ship named _Haida_ operated, especially her weapons," the Marine officer stated as she assumed a parade rest stance. Picard was quick to notice that she was wearing the classical crest of the old H.M.C.S. _Haida_ on her tunic above her nametag. "After all, ever since the fleet bosses took away the Stadaconas, we don't have any ships to play with anymore." As many of the people there laughed, Mason gave him a shy shrug. "And I felt it was long since time that I got my space-legs back, so what better way than to serve as tactical officer on _Haida_?"

"I've seen pictures of them Stadaconas," Scott said as he looked over from the ship's systems monitoring station. "Biggest beasties the Federation ever built . . . and they were decommissioned and put into storage at Regula after only _**thirty**_ years service under their hulls. Save for the _Cornwallis_, wherever she may be." A shake of the head. "It's a bloody crime, ye ask me! Well-constructed, full of heart and soul, those ships are. Most of ye did your cadet cruises on them, didn't ye?"

"We did," Picard said as he looked around. "I actually had the chance to serve on the _Cornwallis_ herself when she was sent to the Bajoran refugee camps with relief supplies after the Cardassians seized the planet. The Cardassians responded with a whole _squadron_ of ships even if they never did cross the border." A sigh. "That's part of the reason we finally put them in reserve storage. If people saw a Stadacona in the area, they _**knew**_ Starfleet was taking great interest in things there."

"Chances are good, we may need them again soon," Riker mused.

People gazed on _Enterprise_'s executive officer, and then Kirk nodded. "Pray for the best, Will . . . but prepare for the worst," he said. "In the meantime, I want to do some basic tests with my ship before we take her out and start putting her through her paces." He then smiled contently at those who were taking the legacy of his old ship into the future. "I'll see you all on the _Bozeman_ later this evening, alright?"

"We'll hold the drinks for you, Jim," Picard promised.

As they streamed off the bridge, Kirk then sighed before he took a moment to gaze around his ship's command centre. Noting the dedication plaque posted on one bulkhead, he then walked over to gaze intently at it for a moment, noting that the plaque had not only the Starfleet Command arrowhead but the old _Haida_'s ship's crest.

Below that was written this:

**U.S.S. **_**HAIDA**_  
Tribal Class Starship, Starfleet Registry Number NX-63215  
Launched Stardate 50362.7, Port Weller Spacedocks  
Saint Catharines, Ontario, Earth, United Federation of Planets

Under the names of the people who were involved in her design and construction from both Starfleet Command and the spacedocks that built here, there was written this:

Arctic, 1943-1945  
English Channel, 1944  
Normandy, 1944  
Biscay, 1944  
Korea, 1952-1953

_In A Class of Her Own_

"Captain?"

Kirk perked, and then turned to gaze on a calm-looking woman appearing to be in her early thirties, with black hair possessing an odd blue sheen dependant on how the light shone on it, said hair combed over her right eye in a very rakish, almost piratical style. "Commander Tanzer," he said. "Is everything on my ship ready to go?"

"We're doing final systems checks now," Yolanda Tanzer - she, much to both Kirk's and Scott's delight, was the granddaughter of Lieutenant-Commander Harb Tanzer, who had served with them years ago as the original _Enterprise_'s Chief of Recreation - then stated as they moved to take their seats. Like most of the others on the ship now - Kirk and Scott had yet to get their jackets changed over - she had the ship's crest on her jacket over her nametag. "We should have time for some in-systems manoeuvres before we have to attend _Bozeman_'s mixer. I've already got Counsellor Franklin working on preparing our own mixer before we start warp trials."

Kirk nodded, and then he sighed as he gazed at the front view screen. "I saw a proposal you put in for one of the ship's trials: Actually trying to replicate our namesake's accident a year ago and head into their universe for a reciprocal visit."

"It would be an excellent show of the ship's systems," she noted. "We ARE the first starship to be fitted with tachytron energy inductors in the warp drive."

"I'll think about it," he promised her.

"Understood . . . "

_**The End . . . For Now!**_


	27. Epilogue: The EDF & Story Notes

**EPILOGUE - THE EARTH DEFENCE FORCE**

Tomobiki, the Moroboshi Home, Sunday 2 January 2011, evening . . .

"My God . . . to actually believe that universe really exists."

"Did you ever watch the show, my dear general?"

The Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces chuckled as he gazed on the rather large number of pictures several would-be imagery technicians aboard _Haida_ - Privates Miyama Sanae, Asō Midori, Helena Urey-Noddies and Kanō Makoto - had captured during the Canadian starship's week and more in other dimensions. "Actually, I did see several of the shows, but I never really followed it as much as others have done," he admitted as he placed the dataPADD down on the coffee table. "God! Could you imagine asking the intelligence boys about doing an analysis of potential Dominion or Borg threats to Earth would make them think?"

"That you need to be relieved and assigned to the nearest hotel with the rubber walls!" the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the United States stated as the other senior officers present in the room at the time - the Chief of the Defence Staff of the British armed forces, the Australian Chief of the Defence Force, the Japanese Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff and the Brazilian Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces - all laughed at that seemingly insane suggestion. The American naval officer then took a deep breath. "But like it or not, this is going to be something new we'll all have to look at."

"Hai, you are right about that, my friend," the Japanese general added as he gazed on his own set of pictures taken on both _Haida_ and _Yamato_. He then sighed. "How fortunate."

The other senior four-stars perked on hearing that comment from him, and then the British general nodded. "Indeed, it is fortunate that none of our countries ever developed something like what you discovered in that alternate timeline universe with that disgusting 'program' within it, Director." A shake of the head. "To believe that something as outrageous as that could exist ANYWHERE in this universe!"

"'There but with the grace of God go I,'" the Brazilian army general quoted. "Don't forget, my friend, it was only a hundred-and-twenty years ago that slavery was done away with in my country. A hundred-and-fifty for yours, Michael," he then added as he gazed on his counterpart from Washington. "And the Holocaust only ended sixty-five years ago, remember?"

"True," the American admiral stated. "So what do you think, Hiromi?"

"Of what?" the reborn emperor asked.

"Do you think the Federation can hold off either the Dominion or the Borg if they ever got interested in coming to our dimension?"

"I pray so, Admiral. Part of it comes from the fact that I still feel quite hesitant on the idea of calling upon the Sagussans to loan their Type 61 dreadnoughts - especially the Eliminator - to us to help defend our dimension against such an incursion. Or to help us unleash a possible retaliation using the genesis bombs that were created during the Age of Gisan'cha fourteen millennia ago," Hiromi stated. As her guests all shuddered at such a ghastly suggestion, she added, "We must remember this fact: the Dominion's fighting forces are all effectively designer clones, genetically manipulated to ensure their undying loyalty to the Founders. Atop that, all drones of the Borg always seek to further augment their bodies with cybernetics to better link them into the Collective. Both could be easily countered by meson-augmented DNA-recombinant drugs that would render all their advantages naught. The Jem'Hadar would no longer be addicted to the White, thus breaking their need to be loyal to either the Founders or the Vorta that directly oversee them. Each Borg drone would be cut off - as the poor Lady Annika Hansen, in a way, was when she was made to become more than just merely 'Seven of Nine' by the crew of the U.S.S. _Voyager_ - from the Collective as a whole." A sigh. "Just as Master Data's brother did to so many on that one planet Master Hugh's brothers and sisters lived on. Even if they all would threaten us . . . do we have the right to respond with _gene-manipulation warfare_ to make them leave us be?"

Her guests shuddered. "Bio-warfare's bad enough," the Australian air chief marshal stated.

"Agreed," the American admiral affirmed with a nod.

"Well, let us pray it doesn't come our way . . . but let us at least make _some_ preparations just in case it DOES come," the British general noted. As the others nodded, he reached over and picking up his cup of tea to sip from it. "Still, it was in all a most educational experience for our ship's crews, something we can train all the people who are joining the Earth Defence Force on in the future. Although I doubt that breaking across the dimensional barriers should be something we do on a regular basis."

"Or an _irregular_ one," his counterpart from Ottawa said.

"Amen to that," the American admiral declared as he toasted everyone with his coffee cup.

"Oh, speaking of which, Walter, what of Lieutenant Anderson?" the senior officer of Brazil's military then wondered as he gazed on the Canadian officer. "Her taking command of _Haida_ in Captain Gamblin's absence was quite a remarkable act in and of itself. Especially when dealing with those Klingons." All the senior military officers in all of the armed forces that had starships in the Earth Defence Force had read the full after-action report of _Haida_'s dimensional/time-travel trip to the universe of the United Federation of Planets in the year 2371 and the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic in the year 2000; the sharing of that information was seen as vital to ensure that if similar accidents happened in the future, the crews of other ships so affected would be prepared to deal with them. "I assume a promotion is in the works. The same with that bright young Private Asai, too."

"Well, Private Asai will just get a Meritorious Service Medal for her actions concerning Commander Data's daughter," the other general stated. "She'll be starting her Level Three trades training in Kingston tomorrow morning, so we can't do things like fast-promote her to a higher rank or possibly offer her a commission. Atop that, given what Mister Spock suggested to her about remustering as a medical technician down the road, that's going to eventually affect her service career, too." He then sipped his coffee. "Other members of the crew might be awarded the MSM as well for their actions; Dean McFadden is having a group look over the ship's log tapes right now. As for Lieutenant Anderson, she will get promoted, not to mention receive a Meritorious Service Cross for her taking command of _Haida_ during a potentially hostile situation. Especially letting the ship dive into a planet's atmosphere to save over eight hundred lives on the _Enterprise_'s primary hull before they crash-landed on Veridian III." As the others nodded, the Canadian smirked. "Of course, getting her promoted means she'll have to spend time at the Command and Staff College learning how to be a proper senior officer before she could be considered potential executive officer material. Atop that, Brian Gamblin wants to get her qualified on submarines, then get her pushed through the Perisher." He thought about it for a moment, "Of course, if she got assigned to a surface ship . . . "

"I would dare say the good Captain Gamblin would take your head off with his own sword, my friend!" Hiromi stated, which made the others in the room laugh. "I believe it is best to allow those who are aboard the ships now to remain as they are for the next couple of years. We need a core of trained and experienced personnel to guide all the new ones coming later into learning how to properly operate such complex ships."

"Agreed," the American admiral stated as the others nodded.

His counterpart from Ottawa then perked. "Oh, by the way, Hiromi: You free on Valentine's Day?"

The reborn emperor perked before she reached into her jeans pocket to pull out her cell phone, and then she called up the calendar function to gaze on it. "Well, that day is a Monday this year, which means that if you wish me to come over to Canada, I would have to leave after school here to beam over. Why do you ask?"

"Padre Klein and his VC?" the Canadian asked. "I think we can also stuff in a promotion, an MSC and a few MSMs along the way over at Rideau Hull."

"Well, if you insist . . . "

A knock then echoed at the back door. "Sempai?"

"Enter, Noriko-san!" Hiromi called back.

The door opened and Nakagawa Noriko walked inside. She came into the living room, and then stopped on seeing all the older men there. "Oh! I didn't realise . . . "

"A simple night-time visit with friends to discuss certain matters before I return to mundane schooling in the morrow, Noriko-san," Hiromi stated before she gazed on her other guests. "My friends, I do believe you recognise Nakagawa Noriko-san, the _ashi'cha_ of that group of over a hundred thousand unfortunates that were saved by the Staff of Gihan. Noriko-san, Generals Walter Natynczyk of Canada, Sir David Richards of Great Britain, José Carlos De Nardi of Brazil, Oriki Ryōichi of Japan, plus Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston of Australia and Admiral Michael Mullen of the United States; they're the senior officers of their nations' military forces. We were discussing our recent adventure across the dimensions."

Noriko bowed to them. "It's a pleasure to meet you all, minna-san."

"And you as well, Noriko-san," Oriki stated as he bowed in return, the other four-stars nodding in acknowledgement. "How are your people adjusting to living in a Japan that doesn't murder forty young people every week and has done so for the past fifty years? It's not too much of a culture shock for you all, is it?"

"Actually, it's more of a dream than a culture shock, sir," Noriko stated. "Though there is something that does bother me . . . "

"What is that?" Hiromi asked.

A sigh. "It's Kazumi-san."

The reborn emperor perked. "Kazumi-san?" The Shikanotoride Junior High students that would have been forced to participate in Event 56-31 back in their home universe had elected _en masse_ to come with their sister and brother _Program_ "players" to this dimension to start their lives anew. "What has she done, may I ask?"

Noriko moaned. "You have to see it for yourself, Sempai."

Hiromi blinked, and then she stood up. "Excuse me for a moment," she said to her guests before following the younger woman out the back door.

Already gathered there were all the students of the last two events of _The Program_; they had come to the Moroboshi home after attending weekend classes in local cram schools to catch up on history and other subjects to prepare them for the high school admissions tests they would undergo sometime in early March, as were all their friends doing so in such institutions across the nation. Staring at the eighty-three other young people on the lawn before her, Hiromi felt it odd to see them all in civilian clothes in lieu of proper school uniforms, but then she caught herself before she could be accused of gawking at them; the Heavens already knew that they - not to mention all the 108,738 others that had come across the dimensional barriers thanks to the Staff of Gihan - would be gawked at enough as soon as they began living full-time in Japan in the next three months. Fortunately, most of them had come to dress themselves quite normally for teenagers their age in Japan in the year 2011, not wanting to step way out of line even if they deserved the chance to let themselves feel freer than what they had lived through back in the Greater East Asia Republic in the year 2000.

There were the exceptions, though . . .

Inada Mizuho seemed to have gravitated full-time to the flowing kimono and hakama style worn by Shintō shrine miko. As always, the Staff of Gihan - with its crystal glowing, though not at a level that would grant the would-be warrior-priestess the equivalent power of the gods - was in her hand; Negako gave Mizuho two hours of exercises, both in meditation and self-defence, every day to help her better handle the ancient Sagussan weapon she had won control of in a desperate fight ten months before on the Avalon bioroid factory.

Dressing like her new lover was Niimi Rena, who had undergone her "time of the month" with Mizuho as soon as she herself had become an Avalonian right after Christmas. Both currently shared married quarters aboard the _Titanic_ at this time . . . and Hiromi knew that Sakurambō Sakura and her fiancé, Ozuno Tsubame, were fighting for the chance to get both girls under their care so they could work as shrine miko at the former's shrine in Tomobiki.

Sōma Mitsuko, Shimizu Hirono, Yanagi Yoshimi, Mifune Yūka and Yazawa Ai - the girl "delinquents" of both classes having joined forces over the last week - had gone for the full-leather look. Skin-tight leather pants that Hiromi swore were _painted_ on their shapely legs - which would cause a city's worth of massive nose-bleeds from any passing heterosexual or bisexual boy or lesbian or bisexually interested girl if they ever got the chance to look at Mitsuko! - tight T-shirts and leather riding jackets with diamond studs all over the place. And the mirror-shades. As Mitsuko had said the first time Hiromi had seen her wear such ridiculous eye-wear just before the New Year, they couldn't forget the mirror-shades! On seeing these five would-be sex-pots, no one would ever mistake what they were: _Bad girls!_

The _Schwartz Katze_ and the members of Kiriyama Kazuo's gang - now including his girlfriend, Kanai Izumi - also wore leather, but they just kept it to old-style flight jackets. All of them had the black cat symbol of their united gang name - Kazuo's group had never chosen a name for themselves while they were living in Shiroiwa, so they had agreed to accept the _Schwartz Katze_ name from Kurosawa Ryō even if Kazuo (thanks very much to his cold logic and calm rationality even if he was showing signs of emotion) was seen as the united gang's true leader - on their backs. Other than that, they wore T-shirts or button shirts (Kazuo's and Izumi's preferred style) over form-fitting jeans. And Tsukioka Shō STILL painted his fingers!

Most of the other people in both classes tended to lean towards normal clothes, even if they often wore black T-shirts under their sweaters or jackets that had the _Battle Royale_ movie crimson wreathed "BR" symbol on the front, with the caption in English **I Survived The . . .** (as in saying "_I survived the Battle Royale_") over it. On the backs of those T-shirts, Hiromi knew, the caption there, in dripping blood-red letters, said **and all I got from it was this lousy T-shirt . . . Oh! And a new body to boot!** (that coming with a winking smiley-face emoticon). Having seen that once on both Yamamoto Kazuhiko and Ogawa Sakura when they were out on a New Year's Eve date, Hiromi had laughed.

And Fukuda Kazumi . . .

_Oh, ye gods! Have mercy!_

Clearing her throat, the reborn emperor walked over to stand beside the leader of the Shikanotoride girl "delinquents." "Um, Kazumi-san, I take it you've gone to visit Ikebukuro while you've not been busy in cram classes or aboard the _Titanic_?"

"Yep!" the now dark-skinned girl with the bright make-up - especially the white mask-like patches around her eyes - then said as she gazed on the reborn emperor.

"And I take it you found the manba style of make-up much to your delight?"

"Sempai, I wouldn't be wearing this stuff if I didn't like it!" Kazumi said as she stared at Hiromi, looking as if she was about to ask, _**Are you THAT stupid?**_

Hiromi then sighed. _Well, Tomobiki High has seen weirder things when Hens__ō__-san lived here!_ she mused to herself as she considered how her schoolmates would react to someone like Fukuda Kazumi - girls that followed the ganguro, manba and yamanba fashion were almost totally nonexistent in Tomobiki - when she started attending freshman classes there in April. "Alright! I'll tell you what . . . "

"It's too little?" Kazumi asked.

Mitsuko, Hirono, Yoshimi, Ai and Yūka all moaned; Kazumi was seen as part of their group, but she sure didn't look the part with all that make-up even if she did wear leather! "No, actually it seems just right! If you were living on a planet named Gomiana, that is. Which happens to be about ten light years out-spin of us!" Hiromi then explained. That made everyone else gape in shock and Kazumi stare wide-eyed at her. "Everyone on the planet considers such facial make-up to be quite traditional! I dare say, whenever we get around to sending a ship down that way to do a 'meet-and-greet with the galactic next-door neighbours' mission, you'll be on it!"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"_**A . . . whole . . . PLANET?**_"

And over she went, right into Matsuki Shiho's arms! The honours student grunted as her girlfriend - their coming together had stunned EVERYONE in BOTH classes! - passed out, and then she sighed. "Kazumi-chan, you really need to lose some weight!"

Laughter then filled the crowd, which was then interrupted by a familiar man's voice shouting out from the street close to the dōjō, "Hey, Hiromi! How's it going?"

People turned as an annoyed older woman's voice then stated, "My son, there's no need to shout so loudly to attract Hiromi-chan's attention!" As the others all turned, Hiromi then smiled on seeing the members of the Hayashi family - including Miiko - come up to the back gate of the Moroboshi property. "And she IS clearly entertaining several guests at this time!" the now-Hayashi Nodoka - in the wake of learning the truth of what her birth-family had done concerning her paternal grandfather Professor Indiana Jones, Ranma's mother had changed her family name with the permission of her mother-in-law in late August - stated before she turned and bowed respectfully to the reborn emperor. "Konban wa, Hiromi-chan. I see these wonderful young people you and your friends rescued from that awful universe are here visiting this evening."

"They came by to visit me just before they were to return to the _Titanic_ for the evening, Hayashi no Mae," Hiromi explained, making Nodoka blush on her addressing the older woman as "Dame Hayashi." "And I just discovered a possible emissary to the planet Gomiana in the person of Kazumi-san, who is still in shocked slumber over my telling her about that planet within the arms of her beloved Shiho-san."

Nodoka and her children looked to where Hiromi was pointing, and then older woman shuddered. "Well, much that I have seen that sort of fashion style whenever I have visited Ikebukuro and Shibuya, I've never understood it." She then perked as she gazed on the reborn emperor. "Excuse me? Did you say an entire PLANET is this way?"

"Hai. And only ten light-years away from us," Hiromi answered.

"Well, to each their own," Kanami said. "Is Ta-chan inside, Hiromi?"

"Hai, Kanami-san! Have a good time!"

Kanami nodded before she leapt over the stone wall and headed into the house. "Sorry we weren't there to help out when you got zapped into another dimension, Hiromi," Ranma then said as he and Kikuko both looked apologetic. "Mii-chan took off to board _Arizona_ to help out as soon as she got the alert and she forgot to tell us about it." Both then stared at Miiko, who had the courtesy to look sheepish at her faux-pas.

"Oh, do not apologise, Ranma-san," Hiromi stated as she opened the gate to allow all of them inside. "It was your first Christmas and New Year's together with your mother in over a decade . . . to say anything of your first Christmas and New Year's together with your grandmother and great-grandfather EVER! There was no need to do a mass mobilisation of all the Seven Schools, not to mention all my friends at Tomobiki High, just to rescue one ship from something that was easily corrected."

"So Mii-chan told me," Ranma said before he looked around. "Now where's . . .?" He then stopped before grinning. "Yo! You're Sugimura, correct?"

Sugimura Hiroki perked, and then he nodded. "Hai!"

He then blinked as Ranma gave him a detailed look with both eyes and ki-senses. "Damn! Mimōko and Makoto were right about you!" He then smiled as he walked over to pat the younger martial artist's shoulder. "Look, I go to Nan'yō over in Kimitsu, but I can certainly spare the holidays and weekends to come over here to help you train some of those rough edges off. If what I heard about you from them is true, you'll be just as good as me in about a half-year's time. Same with you two, believe it or not," he then added as he turned to gaze on Kazuo and Mitsuko.

Both former Shiroiwa students blinked. "How can you tell?" Mitsuko asked.

"Ranma-san's ki-sensing abilities are nowhere close to Onē-sama's, Mitsuko-san, but they are quite sharp," Hiromi explained, and then she perked. "Ah, there he is . . . "

"Ranma, my boy!"

_SPLASH!_

"HEY!" a now transformed Ranma shrieked out as she spun around to glare at a snickering Happōsai. "You're gonna pay for that, Jijii!"

And they were off! As the newcomers from another dimension all gaped in awe as the two Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū practitioners went at it, Kotohiki Kayoko moved over to slip her arm around her boyfriend's. "If you learn from Ranma-sempai there, Hiroki-kun, you'll be going real far in life!" she coyly stated.

"Yeah . . . " the young kung fu practitioner breathed out.

The smile then disappeared from Kayoko's face. "BUT . . .!" she snapped as she grabbed him by his T-shirt to glare into his eyes. "If you start turning into a panty-thief, I'll borrow Mitsuko's kama scythe and kill you in your sleep!"

Hiroki was suitably intimidated. "H-h-hai . . . "

"Um . . . Boss, you okay?"

People perked on hearing Numai Mitsuru's voice, and then they turned . . .

. . . before they ALL gaped on seeing a VERY wide-eyed Kazuo shuddering as if he was standing naked in an Arctic wind, the tendons over his eyelashes twitching wildly as his head shook to and fro in denial. "Boss!" Izumi cried out as she moved to stare into her boyfriend's face. "Kazuo! Speak to me! Kazuo! KAZUO!"

The others of his gang were all moving to either shake him or wave their hands in front of his face. "Yo, Kaz! You awake in there, man?" Ryō demanded.

"Shit! He's never seen magic before!" Sasagawa Ryūhei stated.

"How are you sure it's magic?" Maezono Kenji demanded.

"You dipshit! Don't you understand? THAT'S SAOTOME RANMA!"

"_**HEY!**_"

EVERYONE got blasted down by that shout! As people recovered, they then stared wide-eyed at a now-glowing Ranma, her blue eyes ablaze with fury. "_**DON'T - CALL - ME - 'SAOTOME!'**_" she bit off a word at a time, and then she bellowed, "_**GOT ME?**_"

"H-h-HAI, SEMPAI!" all save Kazuo (who was STILL stunned speechless on having seen the wandering martial artist transform like that!) and both Mizuho and Rena (who, as proper priestesses should, ignored the silly fellow's bluster) chanted.

Ranma perked, and then she smiled. "'Sempai!' I like that!"

And with that, she was back into the fray with Happōsai! Watching them go at it, Hiromi then noted a group of gaping four-star officers standing at the back door of her home, all watching the brutal fight between the two Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū practitioners, and then she rolled her eyes towards the heavens.

"Jim, Jean-Luc . . . you both are the lucky ones," she whispered . . .

_**The End . . . For Here!**_

* * *

**_WRITER'S POSTSCRIPT:_**_ I will end the main story here at this time. As you'll probably notice by the omakes that were done for this story, it will remain open for additional omakes or short follow-on stories even if it will be marked "complete" at this website. Sequels for this story - both in the _Phoenix From the Ashes _universe of the Earth Defence Force and the _Star Trek_ universe - will be coming, including more crossovers for the former. Stay tuned!_

* * *

**STORY NOTES**

To remind everyone, the timeline of this story is set as follows:

In the universe of _Phoenix From the Ashes_, the Christmas holidays right after that story, around the turn of the year between 2010 and 2011. The epilogue is set the first Sunday after New Year's Day, 2011. All military officers that appear in that epilogue are the real people appointed to those positions at that time.

In the universe of _Star Trek_, as noted at the start of the story text, the story begins before the movie _Generations_. The epilogue for the _Star Trek_ universe is set shortly after the turn of the year 2373, sometime prior to the movie _First Contact_.

In the _Battle Royale_ manga universe, it is set in the year 2000 (which is when the manga first appeared in Japan in our reality), almost a week after the last "playing" scene in Chapter 118 of the manga (in Volume 15 of the English translation). Save for the modifications mentioned in the story concerning the different historical path taken because of the founding of the Greater East Asia Republic - and all the historical butterflies that came from that - all political and military leaders in place in America and elsewhere were the same people that were there during the latter part of July 2000.

And now, the detailed notes:

1) Certain elements of _Star Trek_ lore beyond what was mentioned in the various television series were also brought into this story. First amongst them mentioned in this story is the existence of the **Starfleet Marine Corps** (**SFMC**), which was introduced in the FASA role-playing game series based on _Star Trek_ that was produced in the 1980s. In following what was introduced in the game as well throughout the various television shows and movies, the combined rank structure of Starfleet (based on the American Navy and Marine models as Hiromi mused on in Part 9) used here is described below (with the equivalent NATO codes). Please read as follows: **Rank Code - Fleet Rank/Marine Rank**

_COMMISSIONED OFFICERS_

OF10 - **Fleet Admiral**/**General of the Corps** *  
OF9 - **Admiral**/**General**  
OF8 - **Vice Admiral**/**Lieutenant General**  
OF7 - **Rear Admiral (Upper Half)**/**Major General**  
OF6 - **Rear Admiral (Lower Half)**/**Brigadier General**  
OF5 - **Captain**/**Colonel** **  
OF4 - **Commander**/**Lieutenant Colonel**  
OF3 - **Lieutenant Commander**/**Major**  
OF2 - **Lieutenant**/**Marine Captain**  
OF1 - **Lieutenant Junior Grade**/**First Lieutenant** ***  
OF1 - **Ensign**/**Second Lieutenant** ***

_ACADEMY/STUDENT OFFICERS_ ****

SO4 - **Cadet**/**Midshipman 1st Class** (senior or 4th year)  
SO3 - **Cadet**/**Midshipman 2nd Class** (junior or 3rd year)  
SO2 - **Cadet**/**Midshipman 3rd Class** (sophomore or 2nd year)  
SO1 - **Cadet**/**Midshipman 4th Class** (freshman or 1st year)

_NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS_ *****

OR9 - **Master Chief Petty Officer**/**Sergeant Major**  
OR8 - **Senior Chief Petty Officer**/**First Sergeant**  
OR7 - **Chief Petty Officer**/**Gunnery Sergeant**  
OR6 - **Petty Officer 1st Class**/**Staff Sergeant**  
OR5 - **Petty Officer 2nd Class**/**Sergeant**  
OR4 - **Petty Officer 3rd Class**/**Corporal**  
OR3 - **Crewman 1st Class**/**Lance Corporal**  
OR2 - **Crewman 2nd Class**/**Private 1st Class**  
OR1 - **Crewman 3rd Class**/**Private**

* - One person (regardless if said person is a fleet officer or Marine officer) will be appointed by the Federation Council to serve as **Commander-in-Chief Starfleet**, thus effectively become a "six-star admiral/general" (i.e. like the American special appointment ranks **General of the Armies** or **Admiral of the Navy** or the old German **Reichsmarschall**). Such a person would then be designated as a **Grand Admiral** (if originally a fleet officer) or **Marshal of Starfleet** (if originally a Marine officer).

** - The position of **Fleet Captain** (as held by Christopher Pike when he was relieved of command of U.S.S. _Enterprise_) is an appointment (like the Canadian "rank" of **Master Corporal** is legally a special appointment from the rank of corporal) from the rank of captain in Starfleet to indicate a senior member of the rank who has yet to be granted flag rank. The equivalent appointment in the Marine Corps is **Senior Colonel**.

*** - In the NATO ranking system, the code OF-1 covers what the armed forces of the United States would designate as officers serving in pay codes O-1 (for Ensigns and Second Lieutenants) and O-2 (Lieutenants Junior Grade and First Lieutenants). In the NATO system, there is a separate officer code of **OF(D)** below OF-1, which is set aside for those officer candidates who are training to gain their commissions. When Wesley Crusher served on the _Enterprise_ as an "acting ensign" before he went to Starfleet Academy, he could be seen in the category of OF(D) in the NATO format.

**** - In the NATO ranking system, the concept of a "Student Officer" is set aside for those undergoing official officer training at a school like Starfleet Academy. In the member armed forces of NATO (like Canada), it is usually just one rank level, i.e. **Officer Cadet** or **Naval Cadet**. For the sake of this ranking list I made for Starfleet in this story, I broke down the cadet ranks to identify their actual year of study. When cadets are performing operational manoeuvres with the fleet, they are then traditionally addressed as **Midshipmen**, but are not appointed to a higher grade.

***** - In following United States Navy non-commissioned officer rate and rating tradition, the non-commissioned members of Starfleet aboard ship are titled using a combination of their rank as listed above and their specific trade. For example, Simon Tarses from the episode "The Drumhead," as he appears here, is a **Medical Technician 2nd Class**, which would be marked in the NATO structure as being at the OR-5 level.

2) The word **sacre** (taken from the French verb _sacrer_, meaning "to consecrate") is used to describe the various forms of profanity used in _Français Québécois_. **Les Hosties de Queues Plates** is one of the nicknames given to **le Royal 22e Régiment**.

3) The concept of **c'thia** ("reality-truth" or "truth in reality," which is mistakenly translated as "logic") was coined by author Diane Duane in the novel _Spock's World_, first published in 1988 by Pocket Books as a special in their _Star Trek_ series of novels (it covers a possible Vulcan "secession" from the Federation which would occur around the Earth year 2275). Other terms used in that book that appear in this story include **a'Tha** ("The Other," the sense of Divine Immanence that Vulcans as a whole feel to one extent or another; as Mayumi described it, their version of the _Te'a_) and **'Ahkh** ("The War," the title given to the final unification war that struck Vulcan around the time of Surak's Reformation).

4) **Giri** and **Ninjō** are sometimes diametrically opposite yet also complimentary feelings which govern relations between people in Japanese society. **Giri** ("social obligation") forces those who adhere to it to acknowledge and oblige whatever social structures - and their place in it - they are a part of at any particular time. **Ninjō** ("human emotion/compassion") springs up whenever a person feels in conflict with whatever obligations _giri_ enforces on him/her. In the case described in the first few parts of this story, the people of _Haida_ - in knowing _Enterprise_'s history through _The Next Generation_ - feel the urge to help them come through the possible events in _Generations_ as unharmed as possible . . . but knowing that the Starfleet personnel - who hold the Prime Directive (and by extension, the Temporal Prime Directive) as their supreme law - may feel conflicted in listening to information which could change the future flow of their own history.

5) The **National Defence Act** is the primary legal code set over all personnel, civilian and military, serving in the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. The current law on the books is published as part of the 1985 revision of the **Revised Statutes of Canada**. The specific section of the Act that Mayumi might have been charged under if she had directly revealed what she knew about the Federation's universe would be covered under Paragraph 83, which reads "_Every person who disobeys a lawful command of a superior officer is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to imprisonment for life or to less punishment._"

6) **James Durand** (1775-1833) was a prominent businessman and political figure in Upper Canada (modern-day southern Ontario). He was one of the early prominent business figures and political officials to help found the city of Hamilton.

7) Part of this story is inspired by the fan fiction story _Echoes of Destiny_, which was written by an anonymous writer for the **Bring Back Kirk** website (Google those words and you'll be directed to it) which came out shortly after _Generations_ was released in answer to what happened to James Kirk in that movie (the so-called "Shatner-verse" series of _Star Trek_ novels written by William Shatner with the help of Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens between 1995 and 2006 also resulted from Kirk's fate in the movie). It should be noted that the last update put onto the BBK website (at the writing of this story) was in January 2010; attempts at either making further chapters of _Echoes of Destiny_ or any sort of fan-film based on it haven't progressed forward. Most likely, I believe that with the release of the 2009 _Star Trek_ film, the urged to "bring back Kirk" has pretty much faded away.

8) The **cornflake** badge is a gold-plated badge made in the image of the emblem of the Canadian Forces as a whole: a gold-trimmed blue oval with the tri-service badge (a gold fouled anchor under crossed crusader swords with silver blades and golden hilts, that in turn under a gold falcon with the head turned to the right as seen by the viewer) over it, the whole surrounded by a wreath of ten maple leaves (representing the ten provinces of the Dominion) and topped by Saint Edward's Crown.

9) The locations of most of the planets and areas as described here is based on the reference guide _Star Trek Star Charts_ (released in 2002), which was created by Geoffrey Mandel. One exception to this is the location of the Typhon Expanse, where U.S.S. _Bozeman_ disappeared for so long (as shown in the episode "Cause and Effect"). In lieu of acknowledging what _Star Charts_ stated about the Expanse (which placed it coreward of Romulus 40 light-years from Earth), I followed what was written in _Ship of the Line_ (released in 1997) by Diane Carey, which had the Expanse located on the Federation-Klingon border. That is also where the character of **Kozara** that Dujduy mentions was introduced; he is the primary antagonist in _Ship of the Line_.

10) The **Optimum Movement in the Pursuit of Perfection** is the organisation that **Colonel Phillip Green** (who appeared in the _TOS_ episode "The Savage Curtain" and the _Enterprise_ episodes "Demons" and "Terra Prime") led during the time of the Third World War. This term - and the character of **Colonel Adrik Thorsen** - were introduced in the first-ever "crossover" novel between the original series and _Next Generation_ published by Pocket Books, _Federation_, released in 1994 and written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Given the continuity conflicts between the movie _Star Trek - First Contact_ (which came out in 1996) and _Federation_, I ran on the idea that when Zefram Cochrane tested his warp drive system in 2063, the storyline went as was depicted in the movie . . . but he would later attract Thorsen's interest during the 2070s as depicted in the novel, which is when World War Three - or, as I see it, "Phase Two" of World War Three (to differentiate it from "Phase One" from 2026-2053) - flared up, leading to a climactic battle in 2079 that utterly destroyed the Optimum and unleashed the Post-Atomic Horror. I hope to cover this in a sequel fanfic to this one. The **Icarian Movement** that branched off from the Optimum is my own creation. Note also that in _Federation_ was the incident where the _Enterprise_ was made to use her structural integrity field to harden the ship to allow her to ram and destroy a Romulan warbird.

11) The character of **S'harien** is another one created by Diane Duane; he was mentioned in the background story of her novel _The Romulan Way_ (released in 1987). His name means "pierce blood." A fanatic concerning the ancient ways of his people, he despised Surak when he began preaching the ways of _c'thia_ . . . but later converted, turning around and destroying his wares save for several which were saved by none other than Surak himself! Roy Pannan possesses a S'harien (which she discovered at the site of S'harien's Kiln, where she now lives) . . . as did Spock's family until he gifted it to Ael t'Rllaillieu in Ms. Duane's sequel novel _The Empty Chair_ (released in 2006). For those familiar with the _Rihannsu_ storyline, I altered the history written in _The Empty Chair_ in this story by implying that Ael - in the wake of her defeating an extremist element of high government officials set to launch a war against the Federation to better suppress the rebellious elements of the Star Empire - became **proconsul** in the government of the Romulan Star Empire in lieu of an empress.

12) Klingon words, terms and phrases:

**Qapla'**  
- "Success!" (said in the television series many times)

**voDleHwI', bIche'jaj qaStaHvIS wa'netlh DISmey!**  
- "My Emperor, may you rule ten thousand years!" (courtesy of loghaD)

**petaQ**  
- standard insult, meaning unknown (said in the television series many times)

**Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam!**  
- "Today is a good day to die!" (from the Memory Alpha Wikia)

**d'k tahg**  
- a Klingon's standard three-bladed stabbing knife (first appeared in _Star Trek III - The Search for Spock_; this was the weapon that one of Kruge's warriors used to kill David Marcus)

**qelI'qam** (plural **qelI'qammey**)  
- mistakenly Romanised as _kellicam_. The standard Klingon unit of length (equal to 2000 metres) (thanks to ter'eS again for advising me of this)

**Stovoqor**  
- mistakenly Romanised as _Sto-vo-kor_. The Klingon version of Valhalla or Elysium; the realm of the honoured dead (proper Romanisation of the word courtesy of ter'eS)

**qoSqa'rIy**  
- mistakenly Romanised as _kos'karii_. The trickster-spirits that try to entice souls about to enter **ghe'tor** (mistakenly Romanised as _Gre'thor_; this is the Klingon version of Hell) to fall into the bloody waters they inhabit from the Barge of the Dead (proper Romanisation of the word courtesy of ter'eS)

13) The **Haijo-ju** (literally "will of the people") is a meson-forged weapon that was the primary by-product of the Age of Gisan'cha on Sagussa over 13,000 years ago. It - and prototype models such as the Staff of Gihan and the Genesis Wand of Parah/Sceptre of Lecasur - appeared in various stories of _The Senior Year_ as well as _Lonely Souls_.

14) **HAHO** (High Altitude, High Opening) and **HALO** (High Altitude, Low Opening) jumps are various forms of free-fall parachuting used by special forces. As a former Joint Task Force Two assaulter, CWO Marc Duchesne would know both.

15) People who are fans of all of Gene Roddenberry's works should know where the term **Questor** comes from. The character of Questor - an android similar to Data - appeared in the television film _The Questor Tapes_, first shown in 1974 on NBC (the same network that played the original _Star Trek_ series). I took the concept of Questor, converted it into a gynoid (female-form version of an android), upgraded it to a "synthezoid"-like character similar to **Shogai Dakejinzō** from _The Senior Year_, then cloaked it with an aura of mystery through the concept of the "Silence" (like Questor himself seeking the reason for his origins as shown in the film). I plan to explore more about the Questors in future stories whenever I get to writing about them.

16) Valeris' history as noted in this story corresponds roughly to the background that went into the novel _Cast No Shadow_ by James Swallow (released in 2011), though her fate is much different in this story than depicted in that novel.

17) Certain elements of the _Battle Royale_ characters' behaviour and interests (such as the knowledge Kanai Izumi's brother had about _The Program_) were inspired by a beautiful fanfic named _Heads is Heads_, which is listed as one of my favourites at the website here. Written by Technomad, it postulates what might have happened if Kiriyama Kazuo had flipped heads (in lieu of tails, as he was said to have done in Chapter 10 of the manga) and elected to resist _The Program_. I also was inspired by _Heads is Heads_ when it came to Izumi's eventual falling in love with Kazuo in the background of this story, just like Etō Megumi did with Sōma Mitsuko (the woman who killed her), Minami Kaori would with Shimizu Hirono (the woman who fought with her later in the event) and Sakaki Yūko would with Noda Satomi (who went crazy and killed Matsui Chisato, Utsumi Yukie and Tanizawa Haruka in the wake of Yūko's poisoning Nakagawa Yūka).

18) The number of "episodes" to _The Program_ run per year was inspired by the _Battle Royale_ movie, which my friend Mike Smith told me about. In the manga series and the novel, _The Program_ was started in 1947 and was run **once a year**, one class chosen from a total of fifty candidate classes. I confused the numbers when I wrote this part of the story, but then decided to keep it as is, partially to emphasise the difference between the manga and the "reality" of the Greater East Asia Republic . . . and partially to emphasise the horror of what _The Program_ ultimately did to people. That also gave me the excuse to unleash a "baby boom" on the Japan of that universe in the wake of World War Two, thus giving the population a good cushioning effect to absorb the number of kids dying thanks to this event (50 episodes x 41 kids/class on average = 2,050 deaths per year).

19) Jim's fate post-_The Undiscovered Country_ and pre-_Generations_ is inspired by another fanfic I have marked as one of my favourites at this website: Jungle Kitty's _The Siege Perilous_. I don't bother with that author's insertion of the character of Suzanne Brandt in that story as that particular person is part of her fanfic series. However, the idea of politics playing into forcing a still-healthy man like Jim out of the service - especially in the wake of the whole Khitomer affair - did strike me as a typical "politically correct" thing to do, so I used it here. I did change what Jungle Kitty did with John Harriman though, reflecting what was written about him in various novels set after the events of the first act of _Generations_.

20) The concept of the **Pool of Prophecy** used by the Traveller (and Wesley) was introduced in the novel _A Time to Be Born_ by John Vornholt (released in 2004).

21) Sela was reported to be in command of the I.R.V. _N'ventnar_ in the novel _The Romulan Stratagem_ by Robert Greenberger (released in 1995). The name of Sela's father, **Volskiar**, comes from the novel _Vulcan's Heart_, written by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz (released in 1999). The family name is of my own creation.

22) The concept of **Tokzheto** (pronounced **toke-ZSHEE-toe**) is actually the oldest fictional place I ever developed, dating back to my days in elementary school during the mid-1970s. I eventually transplanted that into a potential member-state of the Federation when I began writing _Star Trek_ stories back in high school in the mid-1980s, though I never had the chance to put it into an actual fanfic story until now. However, over time, I evolved the planetary concept into becoming an independent world of Terran inhabitants (like Romulus is independent from Vulcan) a considerable distance away from Earth itself. In this story and whatever further stories I will use this concept in, the planet is located deep in the heart of Beta Quadrant, about 40,000 light years from Federation space. Tokzheto and Romulus would be connected by a series of wormholes, just as Bajor is connected to the Gamma Quadrant. There would also be wormholes connecting the area of Tokzheto with areas near Klingon space.

23) The Romulan commander from the _TOS_ episode "The _Enterprise_ Incident" was given the name **Liviana Charvanek** in the _Star Trek Customizable Card Game_, which was first released in 1994. Her aunt, Commander-General **Ael t'Rllaillieu**, was a primary character in Diane Duane's _Rihannsu_ novel series released between 1984 and 2006. It was from these novels that I got the concepts of **mnhei'sahe** ("the Ruling Passion," the Romulan code of personal conduct and honour) and of the **Elements** (the nature-spirits Romulans acknowledged in Ms. Duane's series). Also introduced in Ms. Duane's books (including _Spock's World_) was **S'task**, Surak's greatest pupil . . . who would later become one of the founders of the Romulan people after the _'Ahkh_.

24) The Interplanetary Confederation of Planet's special intelligence and special warfare department, the **Special Operations Executive** (SOE), takes its name from the similar British special warfare group formed at the order of Winston Churchill to fight the Nazis in occupied Europe during World War Two. A nickname of this organisation, which was carried over from the British SOE, is "_The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare_." While the SOE does have the same sort of external reach as its counterparts on the Alpha/Beta Quadrant Line (the Federation's **Section 31**, Klingon **Imperial Intelligence**, the Romulan **Tal Shiar** and the Cardassian **Obsidian Order**), it doesn't really have anything to do with internal security monitoring or counter-espionage (unless so cleared by the Council of Monarchs, the Confederation's ruling body).

25) _Haida_'s main gun turret names and locations:

**Alpha** - Upper forward weather deck**  
Bravo** - Upper forward, superfiring over Alpha**  
Charlie** - Lower forward weather deck**  
Delta** - Upper port forward weather deck**  
Echo** - Upper starboard forward weather deck**  
Foxtrot** - Lower port forward weather deck**  
Golf** - Lower port forward, superfiring over Foxtrot**  
Hotel** - Lower starboard forward weather deck**  
Juliet** - Lower starboard forward, superfiring over Hotel**  
Romeo** - Upper port aft, superfiring over Sierra**  
Sierra** - Upper port aft weather deck**  
Tango** - Lower port aft weather deck**  
Uniform** - Lower starboard aft weather deck**  
Victor** - Upper starboard aft, superfiring over Whiskey**  
Whiskey** - Upper starboard aft weather deck**  
X-Ray** - Upper aft weather deck**  
Yankee** - Lower aft, superfiring over Zulu**  
Zulu** - Lower aft weather deck

The "weather deck" in this case is the uppermost and lowermost extent of the main hull excluding all the superstructure sections. These letter designations would be the same also on H.M.S. _Hood_ and H.M.A.S. _Kirkpatrick_, following traditional British weapons mount designations. The German standard on F.G.S. _Bismarck_ - as with her famous namesake from World War Two - would letter from Turret A straight back, with the equivalent of _Haida_'s Turret Romeo being Turret K on _Bismarck_. The only letters not used in this case are "I," "L" and "O" given their similarities to numbers.

26) Michelle's "_Sayonara_, sucker!" statement comes from the Steven Spielberg war comedy _1941_, which was released in 1979. The character of Wild Bill Kelso (played by the late John Belushi) said that when he shot down the plane being flown over Los Angeles by Loomis Birkhead (Tim Matheson) and Donna Stratton (Nancy Allen) during the "air raid" scene of the movie. I've always loved that phrase even if some these days might find it offensive. _Star Trek_ fans will also remember the number 1941 being used as the pendant code for the U.S.S. _Bozeman_ (NCC-1941); model-maker Greg Jein, who created the _Bozeman_ ship model for "Cause and Effect," had worked on _1941_ the movie thirteen years earlier.

27) The _Calypso_ is the name of the captain's yacht that is located at the lowermost level of the primary hull of the _Enterprise_-D. While it never got the chance to be used in any television episode, its counterpart on the _Enterprise_-E (the _Cousteau_) played a small but prominent role in the movie _Star Trek - Insurrection_.

28) When I wrote the stories for _The Senior Year_, I took a liking to the phrase **thought master**, which appeared in such novels as _The Final Reflection_ by John M. Ford (first published in 1984), not to mention the uproariously funny _How Much for Just the Planet?_, also written by Mr. Ford and published in 1987; I eventually used that as the Sagussan version of the Japanese term _sensei_. Mr. Ford's books - which is where I also got the phrase "**willing slave**" (in Yehisrite, _wilvirhis'r_, which is seen as the most vile insult of all amongst their kind) - did influence my early writing for _TSY_. I should also note that it is in _The Final Reflection_ that the character of **Krenn** (which Dujduy tells the story of to Kahless at the end of Part 11) appears. In that story, we are also introduced to Leonard McCoy's grandfather, **Thomas Jackson** (or **T.J.**) **McCoy**, who did a service own for one of Krenn's crewmembers, **Kelly** (and yes, that's her name!), when the commander's ship was on a diplomatic voyage to Earth. Along with that, I got the concept of McCoy's ranting at people whom he actually respects from Diane Duane's _My Enemy, My Ally_ (note the scene between McCoy and Ael in Chapter 18).

29) The events revolving around Carl Remington, Amanda's near-death at the hands of a fanatic would-be lover of Sarek's and the IDIC Epidemic were depicted in the novels _The Vulcan Academy Murders_ and _The IDIC Epidemic_, both written by Jean Lorrah, the former book published in 1984, with the latter following in 1988. It was from these books that I also got the **Followers of T'Vet** and people such as **Sendet** (Spock's fellow _kahs-wan_ participant), **Sorel** and **Daniel Corrigan** (the Vulcan/Terran medical research team that ultimately made Spock's life possible), Sorel's daughter and Corrigan's future wife **T'Mir** (who now runs her father's old clinic), the Romulan-born **T'Pina** (whose adopted mother, **T'Kar**, would become Sorel's second wife; his first, **T'Zan** having died in _TVAM_), and **Beau Deaver**, the half-human, half-Orion man T'Pina befriends in _The IDIC Epidemic_.

30) This story emphasises the concept of how United States Navy personnel are ranked. In that service, personnel who do not bear an officer's commission do not possess a rank but a **rate**. This term indicates the actual pay level of the sailor in question, which is one of nine categories from **Seaman Recruit** (pay grade E-1) to **Master Chief Petty Officer** (pay grade E-9). Along the way, sailors are also given what is called a **rating**, which is the Navy's way of addressing a person's trade in the service. For example, Ellen Wynthrop is addressed as a **Master Chief Hospital Corpsman** (in short-form, **HMCM**). The title indicates she is a master chief petty officer (pay grade E-9) who is trained as a hospital corpsman (the Navy's equivalent to the Canadian Forces **Medical Technician** trade; at that high of a level, Ellen would be as equally trained as a **Physician Assistant** such as Sergeant Shayna Trickett, who first appeared in _Phoenix From the Ashes_, Part 41). For pay levels E-4 to E-6 (the **Petty Officer** rates), the terms "third class," "second class," and "first class" always come **after** the rating title, i.e. **Missile Technician First Class**, short-formed as **MT1**. Once one enters pay level E-7 (**Chief Petty Officer**) and above, the rate comes before the rating, i.e. **Senior Chief Boatswain's Mate** or **BMCS**. When a person (such as Keith Hayward or Lee Hinton) is assigned as the senior rate of a unit, all trade rating designations are dropped and the person is addressed as a **Command Master Chief Petty Officer** (**CMDCM**).

31) Going along with what was stated above, a non-commissioned officer is also identified in his rate/rating title with an **Enlisted Warfare Designation**, which is always written in short-form brackets behind the rate/rating abbreviation. In Keith Hayward's case, as he qualified in both the Surface Warfare and Aviation Warfare specialties, he has the code "**(SW/AW)**" written behind his rate title, i.e. **CMDCM(SW/AW)** (**Command Master Chief Petty Officer [Surface Warfare/Aviation Warfare]**). Other common enlisted warfare designations include **SS** for Submarine Warfare, **SEAL** for Special Operations and **DV** for Diver. Andrew Sullivan holds a specialist diver's designation, **DSW** or Diving Salvage Warfare Specialist.

32) **AIP** - Air-independent Propulsion. A special propulsion system that uses a type of engine or fuel cell that doesn't require frequent snorkelling to replenish the ship's oxygen supply at periscope depth, which would make the submarine quite vulnerable to detection. Common systems include closed cycle steam turbines (the French use these), Stirling cycle engines (which are common on Swedish subs) or fuel cells (as what appears in the more modern German U-boats). Nuclear reactors can also be seen as a type of AIP system, but navies worldwide classify such separately.

33) Local terms for the islands close to Japan Kazuo spoke of in Part 14: **Tsu-shima** (the islands northwest of Kyūshū between Japan and Korea within the Korea Straits; in Korean, they are referred to as _Taema-do_); **Karafuto** (the island north of Hokkaidō; in Russian, referred to as _Saxalin_ [written usually in English as **Sakhalin**]); the **Chishima-rettō** (the island archipelago leading northeast from Hokkaidō to the Kamchatka Peninsula; in Russian, referred to as _Kuril'skie ostrova_ [in English, the **Kuril Islands**]); the **Ryūkyū-shotō** (the island chain leading southeast from Kyūshū towards Taiwan); the **Kazan-rettō** (the Volcano Islands south of Tōkyō; **Iō-jima** [now Iō-to] is part of this group); the **Ogasawara-guntō** (the Bonin Islands, the island chain to the east of the Volcano Islands); the **Izu-shotō** (the Izu Islands, the island chain between the Volcano Islands and Honshū); **Formosa** (in other words, **Taiwan**); and the **Pescadore Islands** (today called **Pénghú** in Chinese; they're the small islands immediately west of Taiwan). In Part 17, Negako spoke of the northernmost of the Kurils, **Šumšu** (usually Romanised as **Shumshu**, known in Japanese as _Shumushu-tō_), located ten kilometres from the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

34) **Operation Fūgo** was the attempt made by the Japanese to strike at the United States during late 1944 and most of 1945 with bomb-laden balloons that used the Jet Stream to carry them across the Pacific to their targets. In our reality, the only true lethal strike made by these balloons was on 5 May 1945, when the pregnant wife a local pastor and five children living in Bly, Oregon were killed in a forest on Gearhart Mountain. **Unit 731** (known properly as the _Kwangtung Army Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department_) was Imperial Japan's top-secret biological/chemical warfare research unit, based throughout the war in Píngfáng, near Hā'ěrbīn in China.

35) "**Rubberhead**" is the nickname for a trade in the Communications and Electronics Branch of the Forces: the **Communicator Research Operators**. These people, who serve in all three branches of the Forces, are the ones who use all forms of electronics detection equipment to monitor all forms of transmissions, including foreign ones.

36) The quote "**And always believe that some journeys simply are never meant to end**" in Part 16 is inspired from the last sentence of _Echoes of Destiny_.

37) For the former crew of J.D.S. _Mirai_ that now serve as senior staff aboard J.S. _Yamato_, the history of their service on _Mirai_ will correspond to the _Zipang_ anime series, though they would return back to their own dimension and timeline well before anyone was killed or badly wounded. As I have not seen the full anime series or read the whole manga series, I will leave the details up to conjecture.

38) It took me a while to interpret what the initials "DHK" meant, but then I remembered the name of the country the television station serves, so I gave it the translation **Daitōa Hōsō Kyōkai** (Greater East Asia Broadcast Organisation).

39) The position of **President of the European Council** - the administrative chief-of-state for the government of the European Union - was switched between the heads-of-state and heads-of-government of the several member states until December 2009, when the post was made separate under the terms of the Treaty of Lisbon of 2007. From July to December in 2000, French President **Jacques Chirac** served as President of the Council.

40) American warships awarded the **Presidential Unit Citation** (PUC) are allowed to paint a portrait of the ribbon (a horizontal gold bar bordered by dark blue and red atop and bottom respectively) on the hull of their ship right near the main bridge. The PUC streamer is attached to the copy of the United States Navy colours carried on the ship. Members of the crew of such a vessel who are part of the ship's company at the time the PUC is awarded have the right to wear the PUC bar on their uniforms; those later posted to that ship after the award is given cannot wear the bar.

41) The original H.M.C.S. _Haida_ was purchased from the Canadian government by HAIDA Incorporated (a private preservation group) after her decommissioning in 1963; it was they who moved the old destroyer to Toronto, where she was laid up at the foot of York Street downtown as part of a planned addition to the Canadian National Exhibition. The original group that owned the ship ran into financial difficulties, then were forced to turn care of _Haida_ to the government of Ontario. _Haida_ was eventually moved to a new basin beside the Ontario Place theme park in Toronto from 1970 to 2002, when the ship was turned over to Parks Canada and - after a spell at the Port Weller Dry Docks in Saint Catharines to see her refurbished and repainted - moved to Pier 9 in Hamilton in front of the building housing H.M.C.S. _Star_ as a National Historic Site.

42) The country retreat of the American President located in a rural section of Frederick County in Maryland, **Camp David**, is officially designated **Naval Support Facility Thurmont** and is considered a military installation under Navy control and protected by the Marine Corps. **Electronic Attack Squadron 209**, nicknamed the "Star Warriors," is a Navy Reserve electronic warfare attack squadron (VAQ) based at the Navy side of Andrews Air Force Base (these days, the installation is called **Joint Base Andrews** thanks to recent base closures and consolidations). VAQ-209 is equipped with the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler version of the Grumman A-6 Intruder attack bomber.

43) **WESTPAC** - Western Pacific. Short-form phrase to identify any area of the Pacific Ocean west of the International Date Line.

44) The characters of the second _Battle Royale_ movie, _Requiem_, were used to fill out the class of players for Event 56-31. The name of their school, Shikanotoride, is fictitious (as is Shiroiwa), but since the movie was filmed on Ha-shima (nicknamed _Gunkan-shima_ or "Battleship Island") near Nagasaki, I located Shikanotoride Junior High School within the city limits itself. Taka-shima, where Event 56-31 was supposed to be played out, is three kilometres north-northeast of Ha-shima.

45) The term "**Righteous Army**" (in Korean, _Ŭibyŏng_) have been applied to various citizen's militias that have cropped up in the peninsula over the history of human settlement there, the most famous of which was the _Tonghak Nongmin Undong_ (**Tonghak Peasant Revolution**) against increasing Japanese encroachment on Korea in 1894. The namesake of _Haida_'s Korean sistership R.O.K.S. _Paekbŏm_, **Kim Ku** (1876-1949) was a young member of the Tonghak Righteous Army, killing a man named Tsuchida Josuke in February 1896 to avenge the murder by Japanese soldiers of the Queen Consort of Chosŏn, who was posthumously declared the **Empress Myŏngsŏng** (birth-name **Min Chayŏng**; her name has actually never been confirmed in official records), on 8 October 1895.

46) **Sakamochi Kinpatsu** was the director of the _Program_ as depicted in the original novel by Takami Kōshun. Given what I set up surrounding the _Program_ in this story, I made him one of several field directors who would manage specific "episodes" in a rotation. The director of the _Program_ as shown in the manga, **Kamon Yonemi**, has been mentioned here several times; he was the one Kawada Shōgo killed in Chapter 118 of the manga. I also mentioned the version of the director that appeared in the first movie, **Kitano** (no relation to Kitano Yukiko, of course); in this story, I make use of the first name of the actor that portrayed him in the movie, the famous comedy actor **Kitano Takeshi** (credited as "Beat Takeshi" in the movie credits, of course). I also acknowledged what was written in _Battle Royale II: Requiem_ when it came to Kitano having a daughter, **Kitano Shiori** (Girl Number Four; in the movie, she was played by Maeda Ai).

47) Oliver Wendell Holmes' words "**In our youths our hearts were touched with fire**" were used in a quote that was played in the PBS nine-part mini-series _The Civil War_, created by Ken Burns and first shown in the last full week of September of 1990.

48) The "mixer" concept comes from the novel _Spock's World_, by Diane Duane. As for Aya Nakajima, fans of the dōjinshi _Star Trekker_, made by Atelier Lana and reprinted by Antarctic Press in 1991, should recognise her name and the name of her ship. However, in this case, I made the current _Constellation_ have the same registry number (with suffix) as Matt Decker's ship from the TOS episode "The Doomsday Machine" (in Lana-sensei's work, the _Constellation_ Aya commanded was the _Constellation II_ [pendant NCC-1728], which was mentioned in the _Star Fleet Technical Manual_, produced in 1975). And while I look upon the Aya in this story as being a tad more serious than how Lana-sensei portrayed her in his works, she still has a love of karaoke and she definitely loves a good fight.


	28. Dramatis Personae

_**Avalonians and Questors**_  
**Dramatis Personae**

_**WRITER'S NOTES:**__ To make sure people can understand who is who in this story, this list is provided to allow readers to quickly reference a character's background information without having to find it at places such as the Memory Alpha Wiki. A code at the end of each entry indicates the origin of each character; the list identifying the codes will be at the end of the text. Military ranks will be indicated in brackets after the person's name; academic and professional titles will appear before the given name. Specific television episodes, movies, novels and specific video games will be indicated in the code. Only those people who actually _appear_ in this story will be listed here; those mentioned in narrative or conversation will not be listed. Also, those people who were not named or given a position title are not listed here. The list is in English alphabetical order by family name (or given name if no family name is known)._

* * *

**ADDAMS, Aubrey Lynn (Hospitalman Recruit)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, one of the original plank owners of U.S.S. _Arizona_ who plans to train as a hospital corpsman. She was part of the team organised by Jacqueline Litchenburg to help rescue the would-be "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-31. (**A&Q**)

**AKAMATSU, Yoshio**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. The gentle giant of the class and an avid video game player, he - once he was able to board the _Freedom_ from H.M.C.S. _Haida_ (where he got his new body) - proceeded to fully acquaint himself with the weapons systems of the captured Niphentaxian battlewagon. He was the man responsible for destroying a Republic Navy ELF transmitter unit in China before the government in Tōkyō could send out a message to have their ballistic missile submarines launch their nuclear missiles on the _Freedom_. That act affected Yoshio greatly; even if it saved the lives of his friends and other _Program_ survivors, he still didn't want to kill. Fortunately for him, Inada Mizuho was able to console him later. (**BR**)

**ALBRIGHT, Secretary Madeleine Korbelová**  
Terran, the Secretary of State for the United States of America at the time of the _Freedom_'s visit to the dimension of the Greater East Asia Republic. Like many of her fellow cabinet members, she was in attendance at an emergency Cabinet meeting at the White House when NSA Director Michael Hayden briefed President Bill Clinton on the presence of "the Visitor." (**R**)

**AMANO, Principal Masamichi**  
Terran, the principal of Shiroiwa Junior High School. He arranged for a "graduation ceremony" for Nakagawa Noriko and her friends after the leadership of the Greater East Asia Republic was killed and a new Republic of Japan was born. (**A&Q**)

**ANDERSON, Elaine Michelle Janet (Lieutenant [Navy])**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface officer, assigned as Ship's Navigation Officer. She was Officer of the Day aboard _Haida_ when she was shifted into the Federation's universe. Badly wounded by an electrical shock, she was allowed to do a "body swap" to become a Terran-turned-Avalonian to ensure she could continue to serve in the Canadian Navy. She assumed command of _Haida_ throughout the Battle of Veridian III; it was her tactics that tricked Lursa and B'Etor into flying _qawJa'roD_ into _Haida_'s guns at the battle's climax. Thanks to her leadership in a trying time, Brian Gamblin informed Jean-Luc Picard that he would recommend not only a promotion for Anderson to lieutenant-commander, but for her to be awarded the Meritorious Service Cross. Such will be given on Valentine's Day 2011. (**PFTA**)

**ANJ****Ō, Gō (Major)**  
Terran, officer in the Army of the Greater East Asia Republic, aide-de-camp to Interior Minister Tsugawa Masahiko. He was one of the people who tried to determine what was going on with the _Freedom_, but didn't predict what Nakagawa Noriko and her peers were going to unleash until it was too late. Due to doubts he had about the _Program_, he survived the Staff of Gihan, eventually winning promotion to lieutenant-colonel and reassignment in the reformed government of the newly-named Republic of Japan. (**BR-M**)

**ANNO, Ryōko**  
Terran, the Catholic layperson who administered the Charity House in Shiroiwa, where Nanahara Shūya and Kuninobu Yoshitoki resided before they were forced to participate in _The Program_. Though she was never raped by Kamon Yonemi (as he had told Yoshitoki before he shot him dead in "homeroom" class), she was badly hurt because of what had happened to two of her charges; ever since she herself passed into high school years ago, she had always felt ashamed at having "escaped" the reach of the _Program_. Before she could be arrested by the forces of the Greater East Asia Republic due to the _Freedom_'s presence in orbit over Japan, she was rescued by high school students from another dimension . . . and then got the shock of her life when she learned Shūya, Yoshitoki and ALL their classmates were alive and well. (**BR**)

**ANTHWARA (Elder)**  
Terran, the leader of the native American colony on Dorvan V, a descendant of the people who launched Popé's Rebellion in modern-day New Mexico against the Spanish in 1680. He made the decision to accept Cardassian rule over his new homeworld rather than be relocated. That decision allowed him the chance to encounter the Questors in the person of Jeina Tahn. He had a vision which revealed to him that many of Jeina's people would learn the truth about their sister living on Vulcan "but was born in the land of the Innu in her first life" (Roy Pannan). He joined with both Terran and Cardassian elders in helping Wesley Crusher meet Inada Mizuho in the Nexus. (**TNG-7/20**)

**AOI, Takuma**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. He was rescued with his classmates by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_, then eventually elected to start a new life for himself in Tomobiki after becoming an Avalonian. (**BR2**)

**ARAI, Mamiko (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Combat Information Operator recruit assigned as a plotter in the operations room. She helped detect the presence of Dujduy aboard the _qawJa'roD_ thanks to the genetic similarity Questors have with the independent bounty hunter Shogai Dakejinzō from _Haida_'s home universe. (**GP97-5**)

**ASAI, Mayumi (Private)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned currently to Headquarters 21 Space Wing. Aerospace Telecommunications and Information Systems Technician recruit assigned as an information systems technician. Using her technical knowledge, Mayumi was able to help restore Data's daughter Lal to full function; she also helped break the deadlock over the knowledge _Haida_'s personnel had concerning _Enterprise_ by exposing how factual knowledge in one universe could be interpreted as science fiction in another. Thanks to what she did for Lal, Mayumi was recommended by Brian Gamblin to be awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, such to be given on Valentine's Day 2011. She was advised by Spock to consider medical training thanks to her high psionic skill. (**DDPL**)

**ASAKURA, Nao**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. She was rescued with his classmates by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_, then eventually elected to start a new life for herself in Tomobiki after becoming an Avalonian. (**BR2**)

**AYELBORNE**  
Organian, the leader of the Council of Elders on that planet. He, along with his friends - and coordinating same with Moroboshi Negako - helped bring the _Arizona_ into the Federation's universe to help guide _Haida_ home. (**TOS-1/27**)

**BAKARI, Choko**  
Battle name: **Kyocho** **Chūkō**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she is a first-year high school student at the Kyoshō Academy. Possessing a huge crush on Tsukasa Torusuke (whom she lovingly calls "Mō-kun"), Choko is powerful enough to resist a direct energy blast from him when he is driven insane by the power Tàizǔ gives him . . . and strong enough to hold Carol Kirk in place when the newborn Questor tried to find out what was happening to her father after her awakening. Her loyalty to Torusuke has existed since their first lives, when Choko lived as the happy-go-lucky Xǔ Chǔ, one of Cáo Cāo's bodyguards. A simple person like her past-self, Choko is a member of the school's volleyball team (where her strength guarantees some devastating spikes) as well as the home economics club; she loves to knit. The school's judō club have tried to get her to join for a long time. She was involved in the raid on the Charity House to rescue Anno Ryōko from the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army. Choko is also a Trekker. (**IT**)

**BALLARD, Judy-Anne (Lieutenant)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a teacher in the primary school for the children living aboard the ship. A trained xeno-chemist, she was temporarily assigned to _Haida_ when the Canadian starship moved ahead of _Enterprise_ to track down Tolian Soran's trilithium missile launcher. She - like many from her ship - had taken great interest in studying mesonium, the material that helped restore Lal to life. (**TNG-3/16**)

**BARCLAY, Reginald Endicott III "Reg" (Lieutenant)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a systems engineering officer. Was part of the away team sent aboard _Haida_ after the ship transitioned into the Federation's universe, remained on the Canadian starship to help advise the senior officers there. Did many studies on the Sagussan technology that made _Haida_ possible; he even managed to learn how tachytron radiation-powered reactors worked and came to believe such could be adopted into future Starfleet ship designs. He was also there when Data's daughter Lal was reactivated and restored to life by Asai Mayumi. (**TNG**)

**BATESON, Morgan Allen (Captain)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Bozeman_ as commanding officer. The captain of the most famous time-travel casualty known to Starfleet, he quickly responded to _Enterprise_'s aide as soon as he was updated by Starbase 105 as to what was happening thanks to the destruction of the Amargosa star. There, he would learn of Jim Kirk's survival from the Nexus. A year after the Battle of Veridian III, he would be given command of a new U.S.S. _Bozeman_, a Sovereign-class explorer, at Starbase 12. (**TNG-5/18**)

**BEATTY, Benjamin Bruce "Ben"**  
Terran, was living on U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a civilian employee working as a bartender in Ten-Forward. He was there when Geordi La Forge, Robin Lefler and Reg Barclay (along with Asai Mayumi) reported on events concerning Lal's reactivation. (**TNG-7/15**)

**BEAULIEU, Jacques Louis Marc André (Chief Petty Officer 1st Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Electrical Technician, assigned as Coxswain. He was aboard _Haida_ at the time of her transition into the Federation's universe and assisted in the operations the ship carried out. He arranged for the captured Klingons from the _qawJa'roD_ to see a copy of the movie _Generations_ so they could learn what might have happened hadn't _Haida_ been there to assist _Enterprise_. (**PFTA**)

**BENNETT, Eugene Brian (Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Boatswain, he serves now as Chief Boatswain's Mate (the "Buffer" as he is commonly known in Canadian Navy slang). He arranged for the use of a CSV-192 Space Dhow to carry over a party from _Haida_ to _Freedom_ when Moroboshi Hiromi moved to make face-to-face contact with Nakagawa Noriko. (**A&Q**)

**BETHELL, Miranda Heidi (Petty Officer 2nd Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Sonar Operator, assigned as chief of the Remote Sensor Monitor Unit and acting Division Petty Officer for the Non-Tactical Sensor Group of the starship's Combat Division. She led the team that scanned the life forms inside the Nexus when the _Haida_ and the _Enterprise_ approached it; it was she that recommended that Data go "passive" in his scans to better absorb what information was pouring out of the temporal-spacial ribbon. She also advised Jacques Beaulieu and Ahmed Negm about how to track missile submarines when _Haida_, _Arizona_ and _Yamato_ were helping the _Program_ survivors on _Freedom_ defeat the Greater East Asia Republic. (**A&Q**)

**B'ETOR, daughter of Ja'rod**  
Klingon, joint-guardian of the heir to the headship of the House of Duras. Considered a renegade by the government of the Empire in the wake of the Klingon Civil War, she and Lursa engaged the help of Tolian Soran to create a super-weapon which would allow them to overthrow Gowron. She co-commanded her clan's last ship, the _qawJa'roD_, against the _Enterprise_ in the Battle of Veridian III. She and her crew were beamed off the ship by _Haida_'s materialisers after _qawJa'roD_ was wrecked by _Haida_'s guns, then placed into the Canadian ship's brig cells. In the wake of that battle, Dujduy had them sent to Qo'noS for trial and life imprisonment on Rura Penthe. (**TNG**)

**B'KRENSALH, Tal'Shan (Sub-Commander)**  
Romulan, assigned to I.R.V. _N'ventnar_ as ship's pilot. She also acts as Sela's first officer, receiving calls on the commander's behalf. (**A&Q**)

**BLACK, Steven George (Gunnery Sergeant)**  
Terran, currently assigned to the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard U.S.S. _Arizona_; he is a former member of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. He was in _Arizona_'s main lounge when the would-be "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-31 were brought aboard; he escorted Nakagawa Noriko and her friends to the lounge so they could meet them. (**PFTA**)

**BUSH, Gabriel James "Gabe" (Commander)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Bozeman_ as executive officer. He - along with the remainder of the crew of the border cutter - survived the transition between 2278 and 2368 thanks to a temporal loop within the Typhon Expanse. He was aboard _Bozeman_ at the time the cutter responded to the _Enterprise_'s plight at Veridian III. (**TNG-SOTL**)

**BUTLER**  
James Kirk's dog, a Great Dane. A replica of him was created by the Nexus. (**ST-G**)

**CARPENTER, Sarah Annette "Sally" (Lieutenant [Navy])**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Combat Systems Engineering Officer assigned as Chief of _Haida_'s Main Gun Battery. She was aboard _Haida_ at the time of her transition to the Federation's universe. As she is an engineering officer by trade, she could not assume command of the ship, thus deferred to Takanashi Naoko when Michelle Anderson was wounded. She later commanded the main guns during the Battle of Veridian III; it was her used of a mixed broadside of solid shot and particle energy beams that wrecked the rogue Klingon warship _qawJa'roD_. (**A&Q**)

**CHARVANEK, Liviana (Commander-General)**  
Romulan, currently a senior officer in the Navy of the Star Empire. She was the commander of the detachment of ships that intercepted a Federation starship in the Neutral Zone - the infamous "_Enterprise_ Incident" - in 2268, when a cloaking device was stolen from her flagship. Out of respect for Spock, she helped transport him on her own ship to Veridian III so he could be with Jim Kirk. (**TOS-3/04**)

**CHEKOV, Pavel Andreievich (Grand Admiral, retired)**  
Terran, retired from Starfleet in 2365, served in his last post as Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet. He was also the former navigation officer of the first two starships named _Enterprise_. Like his old shipmates, he came out to Veridian III on hearing what had happened to Jim Kirk; he was also there at the birth of Carol Kirk. (**TOS**)

**CHIGUSA, Takako**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Like most of her class, she died during that event, but was restored by the Staff of Gihan. After the Shiroiwa girls freed themselves, Takako joined with Nakagawa Noriko, Sōma Mitsuko, Shimizu Hirono and Noda Satomi to form an "executive planning committee" to eventually take charge of the female _Program_ players brought into the dimension of the bioroid factory. She was on the bridge of the captured battlewagon _Freedom_ when H.M.C.S. _Haida_, U.S.S. _Arizona_ and J.S. _Yamato_ came to the dimension of the Greater East Asia Republic to find the _Program_ survivors and return them to their future home. (**BR**)

**CHITOSE, Satomi (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Electrical Technician recruit assigned as a materialiser systems technician. Manned the controls in Materialiser Room Nine when the away party from _Enterprise_ came aboard. (**OJE**)

**CHOQUETTE, Mark Allan David (Commander)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface officer, he serves as the executive officer. Like his captain and many other of the crew, he wasn't aboard the ship when it was phased out into the Federation's dimension, but they all caught up to _Haida_ thanks to _Arizona_ and fully crewed the Canadian starship for the second phase of her trip in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic. (**EDF&SG**)

**CLARK, Vernon E. "Vern" (Admiral)**  
Terran, the Chief of Naval Operations for the United States Navy at the time the _Freedom_ came to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic. He was in the briefing at the White House when the presence of U.S.S. _Arizona_ was detected by the National Reconnaissance Office's KH-11 system. He would later arrange to communicate with _Arizona_, thus arranging a meeting at Andrews Air Force Base between Tom Kazanski and President Bill Clinton aboard Marine One. (**R**)

**CLAYMARE**  
Organian, a member of the Council of Elders. He advised his friends that their intervention to ultimately save James Kirk's life could be disguised with the assistance of Moroboshi Negako. (**TOS-1/27**)

**CLINTON, President William Jefferson "Bill"**  
Terran, the President of the United States of America in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic in 2000. He was in the White House the day after the _Freedom_ came back to its crew's birth-universe to locate the DNA of all the male _Program_ participants. He would later learn of the presence of three Earth Defence Force ships, then had his military chiefs initiate contact with U.S.S. _Arizona_. After the _Program_ survivors achieved their goals, Clinton announced his support for the newly-named Republic of Japan as it struggled to throw off its dark past. (**R**)

**COHEN, Secretary William Sebastian**  
Terran, the Secretary of Defence of the United States of America. He was in the briefing at the White House when news of the presence of H.M.C.S. _Haida_, U.S.S. _Arizona_ and J.S. _Yamato_ was delivered from the National Reconnaissance Office. (**R**)

**COLVIN, Stuart Michael (Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Musician, he is the Drum Major of the ship's band. During emergencies, his bandsmen serve as casualty clearance personnel. He helped direct the band during the concert they held for the children and the civilian dependents of _Enterprise_'s crew in the wake of the Battle of Veridian III. (**A&Q**)

**COOPER, Doctor Elaine Patricia (Lieutenant-Commander)**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Medical Officer trained as a gynaecologist and obstetrician, she serves as Chief Medical Officer. She was aboard the starship at the time of her transition into the Federation universe; she was forced to deal with a wounded Michelle Anderson, who had to endure a "body-swap" and become an Avalonian if she didn't wish to see her career ended. She assisted in dealing with casualties from _Enterprise_ during and after the Battle of Veridian III. (**PFTA**)

**COTTER, Nathan James (Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Communicator, he is the Yeoman of Signals. He was aboard _Haida_ at the time of her transition into the Federation's universe, manning the ship's main communications room during the Battle of Veridian III and later when _Haida_ penetrated into the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic. (**PFTA**)

**CROCE, Henrietta (Guardsman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Infantry Soldier recruit currently assigned as a rifleman in 3 Company. She was Jean-Luc Picard's escort into the Nexus when he went to help rescue James T. Kirk. (**GG**)

**CROCE, Rico (Guardsman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Infantry Soldier recruit currently assigned as a sniper in 5 Company. She was Moroboshi Hiromi's escort into the Nexus to meet Inada Mizuho; she would later meet up with her "cousin" Henrietta at James Kirk's cabin to inform the others of what was going on . . . though she didn't come in time to save the captain's breakfast. (**GG**)

**CRUSHER, Doctor Beverly Cheryl (Commander)**  
Luna-born Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as Chief Medical Officer. A very close (sometimes intimate) friend of Jean-Luc Picard. She was part of the away team that boarded _Haida_ on her transition into the Federation's universe and played a role in dealing with casualties during the Battle of Veridian III. She was present when Dujduy helped James Kirk gain a Questor daughter, Carol, aboard _Haida_. Like many of _Enterprise_'s senior staff, she took the chance to spend time aboard the _Enterprise_-A under Kirk after the Battle of Veridian III. (**TNG**)

**CRUSHER, Wesley Robert (Cadet 2nd Class**, resigned**)**  
Terran, Beverly Crusher's only son, he is now studying under the guidance of the Tau Alphan known as "The Traveller." While on Dorvan V, he witnessed the events in the Nexus concerning his friends and the visitors from another dimension, then (with help) used the new powers he was being taught to use to teleport _a hundred-and-twenty light-years_ into the Nexus to make Inada Mizuho realise what she was doing with the Staff of Gihan. He came back aboard _Enterprise_ and manned a bridge station during the Battle of Veridian III, which is when he made the connection (thanks to a vision Elder Anthwara had) between Lieutenant-Colonel Roy Jameston and the Terran-form Questor Roy Pannan). At the time of Carol Kirk's birth, he and his mother were told about what happened to Pannan when she was discovered by the Vulcans drifting in space on a DY-400. (**TNG**)

**DARLING, Jane Brenda (Hospitalman Recruit)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, one of the original plank owners of U.S.S. _Arizona_ who plans to train as a hospital corpsman. She was part of the team organised by Jacqueline Litchenburg to help rescue the would-be "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-31. (**A&Q**)

**DATA (Lieutenant-Commander)**  
Terran-form Soong-type android, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as second officer ad operations officer. Was on the bridge when _Haida_ transitioned into the Federation's universe, later came aboard _Haida_ and had his emotion chip augmented with a meson crystal to allow him to control his new abilities. Due to the Avalonians' interest in him as a fellow inducted sentient, he was able to be reunited with his reactivated daughter Lal thanks to the efforts of Asai Mayumi. He found himself intrigued by Moroboshi Negako when she came with _Arizona_ to look in on _Haida_'s status, plus aid in the recovery of Jim Kirk. Thanks to his growing understanding of emotions, Data understood Kirk's orders to go "that away" when the _Enterprise_-A departed Starbase 105 after _Haida_ and _Arizona_ began their journey to return to their home universe. (**TNG**)

**DE NARDI, José Carlos (General)**  
Terran, the Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Brazil. Along with his counterparts from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan, he met with Moroboshi Hiromi at the latter's house after _Haida_ returned to her home dimension to discuss what had happened over the Christmas holidays. (**R**)

**de SICA, Elsa (Guardsman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Infantry Soldier recruit assigned as a reconnaissance soldier/sniper in 5 Company. She was one of two members of the Guards who sensed Guinan's fractured soul while she was assigned monitor duty in Ten-Forward; unlike Triela Hilshire though, Elsa wasn't driven to tears by that fact, though the pain she had sensed from Guinan did hurt her. (**GG**)

**DUCHESNE, Jean Paul Marc (Chief Warrant Officer)**  
Terran, assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Infantry Soldier, he is the battalion regimental sergeant-major, a former assaulter of Joint Task Force Two. Having been at home when _Haida_ vanished, he got a ride on _Arizona_ when the American starship went out to look for her. He was in _Arizona_'s goat locker when Keith Hayward relayed what had happened in the ship's CIC thanks to Moroboshi Negako to his fellow senior NCOs. He was also one of the first to realise the full horror of what happened to Sakaki Yūko when he was briefed on same by Louise Watson. (**PFTA**)

**DUJDUY, daughter of Meth (**also known as** DUY'IJ) (General)**  
Klingon-form Questor, the chief of operations of Imperial Intelligence. Respectfully nicknamed the "Undying One" by those who know of her (including Worf), she is one of the most trusted officials on Qo'noS. Like all her kind, due to her near-immortality, she has to stay in the shadows to carry out her work, protected by a form of security-through-obscurity and stand-ins who make public appearances at High Council meetings in her place. She is personally loyal to the reborn Emperor Kahless, whom she addresses as "My Emperor" (_voDleHwI'_ in _tlhIngan Hol_). She personally carried out a mission (under the false name "Duy'ij") to stop Lursa and B'Etor from seizing the secret of trilithium weapons from Tolian Soran, being wounded along the way, though she was later rescued by Natasha Yar. She later helped in the creation of James Kirk's Questor daughter Carol . . . as the veterans of the original _Enterprise_ remembered her doing to Valeris' Questor daughter T'Eris at the personal request of Roy Pannan. (**A&Q**)

**ET****Ō****, Megumi**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Ultimately saved when her friend Inada Mizuho seized control of the Staff of Gihan, Megumi - like most of her peers - began to fear a return to the dimension of her birth, despite Mizuho's pleas for them to make contact with Moroboshi Hiromi. The fears soon became so great that the Staff triggered a mass dimensional shift, sending all the _Program_ survivors awakened to date into the dimension of their birth . . . and at the same time, sending Megumi, Mizuho and their friend Minami Kaori into the Nexus (thanks to Megumi being a Trekker, she dreamt of the chance to actually visit the Federation). She would meet Jean-Luc Picard and James Kirk in the Nexus, then be transported to the _Haida_ for their eventual return home via the Greater East Asia Republic's universe. Much to the surprise of many familiar with the _Battle Royale_ manga, she is lovers with Sōma Mitsuko, the woman who "killed" her in _The Program_. (**BR**)

**FLORES, Marissa Erica**  
Terran, was living on U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a civilian dependant. Was present when a quantum filament disabled the ship when she and two friends were being given a tour by Jean-Luc Picard; she was made his "first officer" during that adventure. Is a close friend of the captain's. She was in Ten-Forward after _Haida_ came to the Federation's universe with the captain and her friends. She made a song request at a Christmas concert held aboard _Haida_ in the wake of the Battle of Veridian III. (**TNG-5/05**)

**FREEH, Director Louis Joseph**  
Terran, the Director of the American Federal Bureau of Investigations at the time the _Freedom_ came into the dimension of the Greater East Asia Republic. At a briefing at the White House, he reported the supposed deaths of Nakagawa Noriko and Nanahara Shūya in a New York City safe house run by the FBI. (**R**)

**FUJIKAWA, Satsumi (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Boatswain recruit assigned as a materialiser systems operator and quarterdeck watchkeeper. She piped the side when the away team from _Enterprise_ first boarded _Haida_. She manned the controls in Materialiser Room Six during the Battle of Veridian III when civilian dependants from _Enterprise_ under Robin Lefler were evacuated aboard _Haida_ before the Federation starship lost her secondary hull and warp drive thanks to a core breach. (**TLS2**)

**FUJIKI, Sayuri (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Communicator recruit assigned as a secure communications system operator. Aided in the initial contact with the _Enterprise_ when _Haida_ transitioned into the Federation's universe. (**GP-5**)

**FUJISAWA, Kasumi (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Musician recruit, she plays the guitar as part of the concert band. She performed with friends at a Christmas concert held aboard _Haida_ for the children and civilian dependants of _Enterprise_. (**GP97-3**)

**FUKASAKU, Kyōsuke (****Lieutenant-Colonel)**  
Terran, currently assigned to the 4th Airborne Infantry Battalion of the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Forces as the commanding officer. He lead the ground troops down to Taka-shima to support the leaders of the _Program_ survivors when they went down to permanently "cancel" the _Program_; some of his troops made sure that all those who were watching the show would see what would happen there. (**A&Q**)

**FUKUDA, Kazumi**  
Terran, would-be participant in _The Program_, Event 56-31. A natural rebel against the authority of the Greater East Asia Republic, she was rescued along with her classmates by the "players" of the previous episode of the _Program_, then given a choice to either return to her life on the Earth of her birth or move to a new Earth (as an Avalonian) and start anew. Kazumi chose the latter . . . and much to the shock of all her friends, fell in love with a former class rival, Matsuki Shiho! Also, when she came to live on her new homeworld, she discovered the wonders of ganguro fashion! (**BR2**)

**FUKUDA, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo**  
Terran, the Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Central Committee of the Greater East Asia Republic; he is Senior Chairman Mori's second-in-command. Like his peers, he was put to death by the Staff of Gihan when its power was unleashed to kill all the hardcore _Program_ supporters and effectively decapitate the leadership of the Republic. (**A&Q**)

**FUTOSHI, Itsuku**  
Battle name: **Taishiji Shigi**. Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, a third-year high school student at the Yōshū Academy, serves as leader of the school. He is Kokoni Kichimi's boyfriend. He - a spiritual descendant of Tàishǐ Cí of the Latter Hàn - was part of the rescue party that went with _Arizona_ when she set out to locate the _Haida_. (**IT**)

**GALLOWAY, Jake Stuart (Formation Chief Warrant Officer)**  
Terran, assigned to Headquarters 21 Space Wing. Search and Rescue Technician, he now serves as the Wing Chief Warrant Officer. Like many of the people attached to _Haida_, he was at home when the ship disappeared from the skies over Earth, though he was quick to join friends aboard _Arizona_ when they set out to locate the missing Canadian ship. While aboard _Arizona_, he met up with a friend of his from the United States Coast Guard, Hugh Miller, who had once served on the cutter _Munro_ (based out of Kodiak in Alaska) while Galloway was the squadron warrant officer of 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron in Comox, which was just across the Gulf of Alaska. (**PFTA**)

**GAMBLIN, Brian Alexander (Captain [Navy])**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface officer, he now serves as _Haida_'s commanding officer, this being his seventh command posting since he graduated from the infamous "Perisher" (the Submarine Command Course run by the Royal Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy to train future submarine commanders) to assume command of H.M.C.S. _Ojibwa_. He was at home with family when _Haida_ vanished from the skies over Earth, thus made his way aboard _Arizona_ when Tom Kazanski launched a rescue mission. That trip would turn out to be quite fascinating, especially when he got to meet a man he once thought was just a fictional character: Jean-Luc Picard. In the wake of what _Haida_ went through concerning _Enterprise_, Gamblin was quick to put his navigation officer, Michelle Anderson, in for promotion to lieutenant-commander, not to mention recommend a whole raft of metals for members of the crew. (**PFTA**)

**GARAK, Mlin**  
Cardassian, a member of the Obsidian Order and Jeina Tahn's assistant. (**A&Q**)

**GARZA, John Peter (Senior Chief Culinary Specialist)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as her chief cook. He got some orange juice for Sakaki Yūko when she had breakfast in the goat locker. (**A&Q**)

**GIBBERLY, Kenneth Ian "Ken" (Petty Officer 2nd Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Electronic Sensor Operator, he was the senior of his trade aboard the Canadian starship at the time she transitioned into the Federation's universe. He controlled things from the Electronic Warfare Control Room during the Battle of Veridian III, ensuring that Michelle Anderson was warned ahead of time whenever the _qawJa'roD_ was about to fire on them. (**A&Q**)

**GLAS, Donald Timothy "Don" (Warrant Officer)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Military Police, he is the division petty officer of the ship's security team. He made sure the Klingon prisoners from the _qawJa'roD_ were secured in the brig after they had to be removed from mid-transport suspension so _Haida_ could help evacuate people from _Enterprise_. He also ensured Lursa, B'Etor and their friends got to watch _Generations_ when they were held aboard _Haida_. (**EDF&SG**)

**GOLDIN, Daniel Saul**  
Terran, the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the time the _Freedom_ came to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic. He was at the initial briefing given by NSA Director Michael Hayden to President Bill Clinton about "the Visitor." The chief executive of NASA was rather quite optimistic about the _Freedom_'s presence in the skies over Japan. (**R**)

**GORDON, Carl Wayne (Chief Master Sergeant)**  
Terran, the senior non-commissioned officer assigned to the United States Air Force's liaison unit with U.S.S. _Arizona_. (**A&Q**)

**GORE, Vice-President Albert Arnold Jr. "Al"**  
Terran, the Vice-President of the United States of America. He was at the emergency Cabinet meeting when news of the _Freedom_ was relayed to President Bill Clinton by NSA Director Michael Hayden. He would also be aboard Marine One when Tom Kazanski, Ronald Kerner, Peter Mitchell and Samuel Wells flew down from U.S.S. _Arizona_ to brief President Clinton concerning the _Program_ survivors. (**R**)

**GRAAS, Jay Gordon**  
Terran, was living on U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a civilian dependant. Was involved in a quantum filament accident when he and two friends were being given a tour of the ship by Jean-Luc Picard; he was made an acting "second officer" during that adventure. Is still close to the captain. He was in Ten-Forward after _Haida_ entered the Federation's universe with the captain and his friends. He made a song request at a Christmas concert held aboard _Haida_ in the wake of the Battle of Veridian III. (**TNG-5/05**)

**GREENE, Alyssa Charlene (Lieutenant-Commander)**  
Phaëton, currently serving aboard U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a communications systems engineering officer. She was Carol Kirk's direct superior during the cadet's first after-term cruise aboard the Federation Starfleet flagship. (**A&Q**)

**GUINAN**  
El-Aurian, was living on U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a civilian contractor as manager of the Ten-Forward lounge. A very old friend of Jean-Luc Picard's, she has often served as an unofficial advisor to the captain in certain matters. She was discovered by two Terran-form Avalonian guardsmen from _Haida_ to have a fragmented soul thanks to her exposure to the Nexus in 2293; this eventually prompted the command staff of the Canadian starship to reveal what they knew of the Federation's universe. Eventually, her soul was brought together with the assistance of Koeru Kumomi, which made her feel whole and complete for the first time in many years. She was also revealed to be an unofficial aunt to one of Earth's greatest heroes, Lieutenant-Colonel Roy Jameston (now believed by many to be living on Vulcan under the name "Roy Pannan"). (**TNG**)

**HAANIK, Kles (Archon)**  
Cardassian, a senior priest of one of the old religions of his people for those now based on Dorvan V. Like many others assigned there, he maintains very respectful relations with the Terrans also living on the planet. (**A&Q**)

**HAGIWARA, Urara (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, currently assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Boatswain recruit, she is one of the small support craft coxswains, qualified to pilot a CSV-192 Space Dhow. She was the command pilot of the Space Dhow that travelled from _Haida_ to _Freedom_ when Moroboshi Hiromi led an away team to meet with Nakagawa Noriko. (**GP-1**)

**HAKARU, Ayami**  
Battle name: **Jun'iku Bunjaku**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she currently serves as part of the volunteer headquarters staff of the United Nations Earth Defence Force, based aboard H.M.C.S. _Haida_. A tōshi spiritually descent from Xún Yù of Cáo Wèi, this bright fifteen year-old girl is one of the Special Technical Advisors to the Force. She was able to help Data gain control of his emotions by augmenting his father's emotion chip with a meson focusing crystal which shielded him from too much emotional input into his mind. During the Battle of Veridian III, she helped Ki Tsukihana use _Haida_'s automated Search and Rescue programs to help prevent the primary hull of _Enterprise_ from crashing onto the surface of the planet by using a grappling tractor manoeuvre. (**PFTA**)

**HANA, Doctor Hokaji**  
Battle name: **Kada Genka**. Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran. The "tōshi doctor," he runs a traditional clinic in Chibi prefecture not far from the Nan'yō Academy. Sebone Mimōko is one of his patients. He follows in the footsteps of his famous past-self, Master Healer Huà Tuó of the Latter Hàn period. He came with the rescue party aboard _Arizona_ to locate _Haida_. He was the first to identify Sakaki Yūko when she was rescued from a life pod ejected from the _Freedom_, though Moroboshi Negako had to assure him that Yūko was the real woman from the Greater East Asia Republic in lieu of a very well-crafted replica of same. Doctor Hana also helped restore Jim Kirk back to life and good health with the assistance of the dragon-possess tōshi who came with him. After that, he gladly paid a "house call" on a brother doctor, Leonard McCoy. (**IT**)

**HAPP****Ō****SAI**  
Terran, the grandmaster of Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū. A very good friend of Moroboshi Negako's. He visited the Moroboshi home shortly after the return of _Haida_ from her interdimensional trip, where he surprised his prized student, Hayashi Ranma, with a bucket of cold water, thus engaging in a snap duel right in front of Hiromi and all her guests, including the _Program_ survivors from Shiroiwa Junior High School. (**RN**)

**HARI, Haruka**  
Battle name: **Chōryō Bun'en**. Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, a first-year high school student at Kyoshō. A recent transfer into the school from Rakuyō (in following the footsteps of his past-self, Zhāng Liáo of the Latter Hàn, who eventually switched his allegiance to Cáo Wèi), he was part of the party of tōshi from that school who went aboard _Arizona_ to locate the missing _Haida_. Later, he would be part of the "Shiroiwa raid," going down to the Charity House to locate Anno Ryōko and keep her safe from the soldiers of the NADA who were dispatched to arrest her. (**IT**)

**HARU, Asumi**  
Battle name: **Ch****ō****hi Ekitoku**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she currently is a first-year high school student at Seito High School. Spiritually descent from Zhāng Fēi of Shǔ Hàn, she welds a beautiful replica of his most famous weapon, the _Jōhachi-dabō_ ("Viper Blade"), a birthday present from her Noukiite "dream-sister," Lady Seu-Nuk Yesu-K'i Hechnich'-Kingch'eng of K'uongno. Like her oath-sisters Koro Sonami and Seki Haneko, Asumi was aboard _Haida_ when she transitioned into the Federation's universe. She was also involved in the retrieval of James Kirk from the Nexus, though she was angry at Sonami because the latter wanted to get his autograph! (**IT**)

**HATANO, Aoi (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Combat Information Operator recruit assigned as a plotter in the ship's Operations Room. Was on the bridge of _Haida_ at time of her transition into the Federation's universe. (**TLS2**)

**HAYASHI, Kanami**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, now a first-year high school student at Shinobugaoka High School in Tōkyō's Taitō Ward, where she lives with her grandmother, Hayashi Chiaki. She came with the rest of her family down to the Moroboshi home in Tomobiki to visit Hiromi, thus giving Kanami the chance to visit her lover, Moroboshi Tariko. (**RN/PFTA**)

**HAYASHI, Kikuko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, now a first-year high school student at the Nan'yō Academy. She came with the rest of her family to the Moroboshi home to visit Hiromi. (**PFTA**)

**HAYASHI, Miiko**  
Battle name: **Ryūen Kunrō**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, a first-year high school student attending Seito. Adopted twin sister of Hayashi (née Saotome) Ranma and Koeru Kumomi's lover, she was - like Moroboshi Hiromi - reborn from just a magatama bearing the soul of her past-self, Liú Yān of the Latter Hàn. She led the group of tōshi from Seito on the rescue mission aboard the _Arizona_ when they set out to locate _Haida_. (**PFTA**)

**HAYASHI (**née **SAOTOME), Nodoka**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, the mother of Hayashi Ranma and Hayashi Kanami and the adopted mother of Hayashi Miiko and Hayashi Kikuko. She changed her name in the wake of learning of her family's actions against her paternal grandfather, Professor Indiana Jones. She came with her children to the Moroboshi home to visit Hiromi. (**RN**)

**HAYASHI (**née **SAOTOME), Ranma**  
Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, now a first-year high school student at Nan'yō, Sebone Mimōko's lover. He came with his family over to the Moroboshi home to visit Hiromi. There, he encountered Sugimura Hiroki and - impressed by the level of ki he possessed - volunteered to help train him. Much to Ranma's personal regret, his own school's grandmaster then surprised him with a bucket of cold water, turning him into a girl and launching a hand-to-hand duel in front of Hiroki's friends. (**RN**)

**HAYDEN, Michael Vincent (General)**  
Terran, the Director of the National Security Agency at the time of the _Freedom_'s visit to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic. He made a report to President Bill Clinton concerning the _Freedom_; he later reported the presence of H.M.C.S. _Haida_, U.S.S. _Arizona_ and J.S. _Yamato_ thanks to the American KH-11 "Keyhole" reconnaissance satellite system. (**R**)

**HAYWARD, Keith Gene (Command Master Chief Petty Officer)**  
Terran, the senior Navy non-commissioned rating aboard U.S.S. _Arizona_. He was in the combat information centre when Moroboshi Negako dressed down the command crew when it came to locate the missing _Haida_, an incident he reported to his friends in the ship's goat locker later. He was also in _Arizona_'s CIC later when the ship received a message from the government in Washington (in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic) to have them contact President Clinton. He was there later when Tom Kazanski ordered Jacqueline Litchenburg to coordinate with the _Program_ survivors aboard _Freedom_ when it came to rescuing the would-be participants in Event 56-31. (**A&Q**)

**HENSLEY, Scott Ian (Hospital Corpsman Second Class)**  
Terran, currently assigned to the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard U.S.S. _Arizona_; he is a former member of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. Like his fellow First Recon co-workers Steve Black and Michael Norton, he was aboard _Arizona_ at the time the would-be "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-31 were brought aboard after they were rescued from Taka-shima, then allowed to meet up with Nakagawa Noriko and her friends. (**PFTA**)

**HIDARI, Mijiko**  
Battle name: **Saji Genpō**. A fifteen year-old tōshi apprenticing under Moroboshi Negako to master her telepathic and illusion magic capabilities, both inherited from her past-self, the famous Taoist sage and mystic Zuǒ Cí of the Latter Hàn period. She was part of the group of tōshi who had boarded _Arizona_ when she set out to locate _Haida_. (**IT-GG**)

**HILSHIRE, Triela (Guardsman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Infantry Soldier recruit currently assigned as a rifleman in 1 Company. She was one of the two members of the Guards who sensed Guinan's fractured soul while she was assigned monitor duty in Ten-Forward; that discovery later would drive her to tears when she explained what she had sensed later to Jean-Luc Picard and his command crew. (**GG**)

**HINASE, Minami**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 55-33 (the same event Kawada Shōgo and Inoue Keiko participated in). She was on the hangar deck of the _Freedom_ when Moroboshi Hiromi first came to visit; it was she who answered Hiromi's questions about the effectiveness of "terror bombing" during World War Two; this would allow the reborn emperor to convince the _Program_ survivors to follow her idea of using the Staff of Gihan to attack the _Program_ supporters via their own souls. (**A&Q**)

**HINTON, Lee Daniel "Cue Ball" (Command Master Chief Petty Officer)**  
Terran, assigned to SEAL Team 72 as command master chief petty officer. A former yeoman and shipmate of Casey Ryback from the _Missouri_, Hinton gladly switched from being a yeoman to a SEAL, thus eventually making himself available to become Casey's command master chief when SEAL 72 was stood up. He was in the goat locker on _Arizona_ when Sakaki Yûko was brought there by Ellen Wynthrop to have breakfast. (**US**)

**HIRANUMA, Minister Takeo**  
Terran, the Minister of Trade and Industry in the Central Committee of the Greater East Asia Republic. Like his peers, he was put to death by the Staff of Gihan when its power was unleashed to kill all the hardcore _Program_ supporters and effectively decapitate the leadership of the Republic. (**A&Q**)

**HONDA, Tomoko (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Electronics Technician (Radar) recruit assigned as a fire control sensor technician. She carried out repairs in _Haida_'s Operations Room after her transition into the Federation's universe. (**TLS**)

**HOPKINS, John Wayne (Petty Officer 2nd Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Weapons Technician, he was the senior member of his trade aboard _Haida_ on her transition into the Federation's universe. He manned the weapons controls in the operations room when _N'ventnar_ made her appearance over Veridian III. Later, he would control the "Sea-whiz" close-in anti-missile defence systems when _Haida_ moved to engage the _qawJa'roD_. (**A&Q**)

**HOUSTON, Allan Grant "Angus" (Air Chief Marshal)**  
Terran, the Chief of the Defence Force of the Australian armed forces. Along with his counterparts from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil, he met with Moroboshi Hiromi at the latter's house after _Haida_ returned to her home dimension to discuss what had happened over the Christmas holidays. (**R**)

**IKETANI, Marino (Guardsman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Infantry Soldier recruit assigned as a reconnaissance soldier/sniper in 5 Company. Led a casualty response team to learn what happened to Moroboshi Hiromi in the wake of _Haida_'s transition into the Federation's universe. (**FR2**)

**INADA, Mizuho (**also known as **"The Warrior-Priestess Prexia Dikianne Mizuho")**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_ in Event 56-30. She was killed in that event, but like her classmates, found her soul transported across the dimensions to be implanted in an Avalonian body so she could be made into a child sex-slave (thanks to the loaning of the Staff of Gihan to her would-be master). At the time of her awakening, the Noukiites and the Yehisrites were attacking Phentax Twelve to liberate the factory. Freed in hopes of making her fight, Mizuho surprised her "master," seized control of the Staff, then disintegrated him. As time went on and more _Program_ victims were brought to the bioroid factory to be reborn, Mizuho tried - and failed - to convince her friends to open contact with Moroboshi Hiromi so they could seek a new home on Earth. Eventually, the others' fears about being forced back to their birth universe caused the accident with the Staff that sent H.M.C.S. _Haida_ into the Federation's universe . . . with Mizuho and two friends, Etō Megumi and Minami Kaori, being sent into the Nexus. Rescued by a joint away team from _Haida_ and U.S.S. _Enterprise_ (with help from Wesley Crusher), Mizuho was given the chance to learn how to use the Staff so that - when the time came - she would deliver a fatal punishment onto those in the Greater East Asia Republic that fully supported _The Program_. On returning to her rightful universe, she became lovers with a would-be _Program_ participant, Niimi Rena. A would-be Zoroastrian, Mizuho now receives training in the use of the Staff from Moroboshi Negako and (with Rena) is being sought by Sakurambō Sakura and Ozuno Tsubame to work at the former's shrine in Tomobiki. Mizuho, like many tōshi, gladly addresses Hiromi as an "emperor" thanks to her past life. (**BR**)

**INOUE, Aki**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 43-19 (from 1987). She asked if Tendō Mayumi was willing to share Akamatsu Yoshio, getting a resounding "no" as her answer. (**A&Q**)

**INOUE, Keiko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 55-33. Kawada Shōgo's would-be girlfriend, she was shot down by him when she moved to kill a man moving to sneak up behind him to strike him down. She was one of the first people beyond the girls of the Shiroiwa class of Event 56-30 to be reborn as an Avalonian; due to her connection to Shōgo, she is seen as an "adopted" member of the Shiroiwa class. She was very pleased to be reunited with her "Mister Smug" (as she once called him); she elected to move to Tomobiki with him when they relocated back to their proper home universe, planning to go to Tomobiki High School when her time came. (**BR**)

**J****Ō****, Naoki**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Rescued with his classmates by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_, he would later elect to become an Avalonian and start his life anew in Tomobiki. He is a member of the _Schwartz Katze_ ("The Black Cats"). (**BR2**)

**KADOMATSU, Yōsuke (****Commander)**  
Terran, assigned to J.S. _Yamato_ as executive officer. He, like many of his shipmates, were shocked and angered by what they learned about the Greater East Asia Republic and what its government gladly does FIFTY times a YEAR to young CHILDREN! Much to the surprise of Moroboshi Hiromi, he was all for using the firepower of the Earth Defence Force ships to wreck the Republic's military . . . which went well against the grain of the ethos governing the Japanese Self-Defence Forces these days. (**ZP**)

**Emperor KAHLESS, son of Kahless**  
Klingon, a clone of the original Kahless the Unforgettable, created as a living symbol of the Klingon people which could unite all the factions, restore hope and give new spiritual guidance to his race. Thanks to the support of Worf, Kahless was made the first Emperor of the Klingons in three centuries. Acting for the Empire very much like the Queen of the United Kingdom or the Emperor of Japan acted for their home nations (as a legal head-of-state with little power), Kahless would serve as an inspiration for many of the current generation of warriors throughout the empire. He supported Dujduy's mission against Lursa and B'Etor, promising to help deliver an object (a birthing sphere to create a new Questor) to the general's friend Roy Pannan on Vulcan. Later, in the wake of the Battle of Veridian III, Kahless gained the chance to meet the crew of the _Haida_, instantly recognising in Moroboshi Hiromi the spirit of a sister emperor . . . and recognising in Morokuzu Ryōko the spirit of a chancellor. He also got the chance to meet the veterans of the original _Enterprise_. (**TNG-6/23**)

**KAKIZAWA, Eri (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Musician recruit assigned to the ship's concert band as a guitar player and member of the Thunderbird Chorus. She was part of the casualty clearance team under Stuart Colvin when people from _Enterprise_ were beamed to _Haida_ during the Battle of Veridian III. She joined in with band mate Nanase Kasumi to play the song _Arrival_ for the children in the group to calm them down, especially a young girl with a teddy bear who was worried about her mother. (**GP97-5**)

**KANAI, Izumi**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_ in Event 56-30. Thanks to her brother's knowledge of the _Program_, Izumi helped prompt Nakagawa Noriko to make Inada Mizuho rescue ALL the _Program_ participants all the way back from 1947 to let them be reborn as Avalonians! Like almost all of her classmates, Izumi feared being forced to return to the dimension of her birth. Along the way, Izumi - after hearing the truth about the man who had killed her on Oki-shima - became attracted to Kiriyama Kazuo, eventually calling him "Boss" (like his gang friends did). Izumi would be eventually welcomed into Kazuo's expanded gang when they relocated to Tomobiki. (**BR**)

**KAZANSKI, Thomas Vincent "Tom" (Captain)**  
Call-sign: **Iceman**. Terran, the commanding officer of U.S.S. _Arizona_, a veteran F-14 Tomcat pilot who has served his nation diligently for almost three decades. Though he was denied flight status due to arthritis four years ago, Moroboshi Hiromi was able to arrange for treatments which cured him of that ailment, thus allowing him to qualify on the F-96 Starfire that formed the heart of his ship's long-range striking power. He led the search-and-rescue mission into the Federation's universe to locate the _Haida_ (after being verbally upbraided by Moroboshi Negako to better teach him how to deal with such a sudden event), thus helping those of _Haida_'s crew who were left behind when their ship vanished to reunite with their shipmates. Later, in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, he led a meeting with President Bill Clinton to inform the Americans of what the _Program_ survivors on the _Freedom_ were planning to do. (**TG**)

**KASHIRA, Emi**  
Battle name: **Mōkaku**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, a second-year high school student and leader of the tōshi of Nanban High School. She - the spiritual descendant of Mèng Huò of the Nánmán - led a group of tōshi from her school to join the rescue party that boarded _Arizona_ to locate _Haida_. She expressed shock on hearing from Sakaki Yūko of the fears _Program_ victims held concerning their being sent back to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic . . . and that didn't describe her reaction when she learned of why Yūko and her friends had been "saved" in the first place! (**IT-XX**)

**KAWADA, Shōgo**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. The only two-time participant in the _Program_ (he had been involved in Event 55-33 a year before), he helped Nanahara Shūya and Nakagawa Noriko escape at the cost of his life. Like all his male classmates, he had to be held in a disembodied state until such time as Moroboshi Negako helped Inada Mizuho use the Staff of Gihan to give him a new body of his own. He was part of the party from H.M.C.S. _Haida_ to go aboard the captured Niphentaxian battlewagon _Freedom_, where he was reunited with his former classmate and would-be girlfriend, Inoue Keiko. Despite his reunion with the woman who had come to influence his life so much, he stood with his new classmates when they went down to Taka-shima to finally close the _Program_ down once. He and Keiko elected to live together in Tomobiki and attend Tomobiki High once they returned to their proper universe of residence. (**BR**)

**KAWARA, Minister Tsutomu (General)**  
Terran, the Minister of the Army in the Central Committee of the Greater East Asia Republic. Like his peers, he was put to death by the Staff of Gihan when its power was unleashed to kill all the hardcore _Program_ supporters and effectively decapitate the leadership of the Republic. (**A&Q**)

**KELLER, Jason Bruce (Commander)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface officer, he currently serves as the ship's combat officer. He was in the operations room when _Haida_ and _Arizona_ breached through the dimensional walls into the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, where _Yamato_ was waiting for them. (**A&Q**)

**KENNER, Kinzie Elaine (Hospitalman Recruit)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, one of the original plank owners of U.S.S. _Arizona_ who plans to train as a hospital corpsman. She was part of the team organised by Jacqueline Litchenburg to help rescue the would-be "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-31 from Taka-shima near Nagasaki. Fukuda Kazumi thought her smile was very cute. (**A&Q**)

**KERNER, Ronald Richard (Captain)**  
Call-sign: **Slider**. Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as Executive Officer. Tom Kazanski's best friend and back-seater from the days they first flew F-14 Tomcats, the former radio intercept officer was all for attacking the Greater East Asia Republic when he learned the truth of what befell people like Sakaki Yūko. He would later fly with his commanding officer down to Washington to meet with President Bill Clinton; he led the briefing on the Earth Defence Force and events across the dimensional barrier and over a decade ahead in time from when _The Program_'s Event 56-30 happened. (**TG**)

**KI, Tsukihana**  
Battle name: **K****ō****getsuei**. Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, he currently serves as part of the volunteer headquarters staff of the United Nations Earth Defence Force, based aboard H.M.C.S. _Haida_. A tōshi spiritually descent from Huáng Yuèyīng of Shǔ Hàn, this bright fourteen year-old boy is one of the Special Technical Advisors to the Force. The away party from _Enterprise_ was taken aback at the fact he was the person primarily responsible for building _Haida_ and her sisterships. During the Battle of Veridian III, he used _Haida_'s automated Search and Rescue programs to help prevent the primary hull of _Enterprise_ from crashing onto the surface of the planet by using a grappling tractor manoeuvre that reminded the Canadian Navy veterans aboard the ship of a replenishment-at-sea with one of the service's Preserver-class auxiliary oiler replenishment vessels . . . augmented with a towing exercise done in very high seas! (**PFTA**)

**KIMURA, Yuki (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Sonar Operator recruit assigned to the Remote Sensor Monitor Unit. She was the one who scanned the life-forms inside the Nexus from _Haida_ . . . and discovered the presence of three Avalonians - who turned out to be Inada Mizuho, Etō Megumi and Minami Kaori - in the Nexus as well as discovering the presence of the Staff of Gihan. (**DDPL**)

**KINOSHITA, Tsuyako**  
Terran, a third-year middle school student at Shiroiwa Junior High School. She - along with all her schoolmates - watched the final episode of _The Program_, where she herself declared that Nakagawa Noriko and her friends were delivering the "judgement of the gods" on all those who had condemned so many to die. (**A&Q**)

**KIRIYAMA, Chiaki**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 22-17 (in 1966). She manned the communications station on the _Freedom_ when three ships of the Earth Defence Force came to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic to help return all the _Program_ survivors to their true home dimension. She is no relation to Kiriyama Kazuo. (**A&Q**)

**KIRIYAMA, Kazuo**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. A man who suffered from damage to his left nucleus amygdalae when he was a child, Kazuo was completely incapable of expressing any form of emotion, much less develop any sense of morals. That made him the perfect killing machine during his class' participation in _The Program_: fourteen of his classmates fell at his hand before he was killed by a very reluctant Nanahara Shūya. Like his male classmates, he was saved by the Staff of Gihan, but had to remain disembodied until such time as Moroboshi Negako was able to prompt the Staff to use one of the un-templated Avalonian bodies aboard _Haida_ to give him physical form again. Though still quite logical and rational, he is starting to experience emotions. Fortunately for him, his gang friends (Numai Mitsuru, Sasagawa Ryūhei, Kuronaga Hiroshi and Tsukioka Shō) and his would-be girlfriend Kanai Izumi are doing all they can to support him. (**BR**)

**KIRK, Carol Miramanee (Cadet 4th Class)**  
Terran-form Questor, the daughter of James Kirk. Named in tribute to two women whom he was very close to, she was created from his memories as a precaution in case he could not recover from wounds he sustained on the _Enterprise_ during the Battle of Veridian III, she awoke when she sensed her father being healed by Moroboshi Hiromi's tōshi friends thanks to a massive ki infusion, which is not normal for a newborn Questor (as Dujduy and Heva t'Jarok noted). Later, she was instructed by Gary Seven and Moroboshi Negako to make sure she was aboard the _Enterprise_ (or whatever ship Jean-Luc Picard was commanding at the time) by a certain stardate to ensure she could stop a Borg attempt at changing history, plus find some way to help Roy Pannan finally remember her life as Roy Jameston; Carol was given a meson crystal to assist. At the commissioning of U.S.S. _Haida_ over a year later, she had already finished her first year at Starfleet Academy, performing her first inter-year summer cruise aboard the new _Enterprise_. (**A&Q**)

**KIRK, James Tiberius "Jim" (Captain**, retired**)**  
Terran, former commanding officer of the first two starships named _Enterprise_. Forced to resign thanks to political infighting at Starfleet Command in the wake of the Khitomer Accords, he was aboard the third U.S.S. _Enterprise_ on her maiden voyage when it encountered the Nexus. Believed killed after a spike of energy struck the newly-launched starship, it was later revealed that Kirk had been transported into the Nexus and had been trapped there for 78 years until a team from the current _Enterprise_ - assisted by volunteers from _Haida_ - rescued him. Persuaded by Jean-Luc Picard to "come make a difference again," Kirk reactivated his commission. During the Battle of Veridian III, he was wounded by a falling mainframe crushing his chest and back, but he was healed with the help of the dragon-possessed tōshi of the Seven Battle Schools under the guidance of Doctor Hana Hokaji. He also gained a Questor daughter, Carol Miramanee Kirk, thanks to the help of Dujduy (as a precaution in case he could not be healed). After getting a chance to command the _Enterprise_-A (which had been upgraded by Montgomery Scott at the prompting of Nyota Uhura with the support of John Harriman), he was given command of the first Tribal-class escort cruiser, U.S.S. _Haida_. (**TOS**)

**KITANO, Shiori**  
Terran, would-be participant in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Like her friends, she was rescued from being forced to kill or be killed by the "players" of the previous episode of _The Program_ with the assistance of the crew of the U.S.S. _Arizona_. She would later elect to become an Avalonian and move to the universe of the Earth Defence Force. Ironically, her father Takashi was a former _Program_ field director. (**BR2**)

**KITANO, Yukiko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Kusaka Yumiko's bond-mate, she supported her lover's suggestion to rescue the would-be "players" of Event 56-31 as soon as they were located. (**BR**)

**KLEIN, The Reverend Alice Heather (Major)**  
Terran, assigned to the Canadian Forces Chaplain School and Centre in Borden as an instructor. Vincent Klein's wife. She was aboard _Haida_ celebrating Christmas with her husband at the time of her transition into the Federation's universe and was part of the group that greeted the away team from _Enterprise_ when they came aboard. (**PFTA**)

**KLEIN, The Reverend Vincent Stuart (Major)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_ as the Ship's Chaplain. He, along with his wife, were spending time aboard the _Haida_ when she was made to transition to the Federation's universe; he was part of the team that greeted the away party from the _Enterprise_ when they came aboard. Due to his moral position as the ship's primary spiritual guide and advisor (even if, as in the case of all those in his occupation, he had no command responsibilities), he was present at every major decision made by both ship's crews leading up to the Battle of Veridian III. (**PFTA**)

**KOERU, Kumomi**  
Battle name: **Ch****ō****un Shiry****ū**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she is currently a second-year high school student at Seito High School. One of the few tōshi touched by a haoryū (hers is named "Shùnpíng") thanks to her spiritual link to Zhào Yún of Shǔ Hàn, she is a master kendō-ka and iaidō-ka, always travelling around with her personal katana, Zanryū. She was aboard _Haida_ at the time that ship had transitioned into the Federation's universe, thus was available to assist in the retrieval of the "horcruxi" of both Guinan and Doctor Tolian Soran from the Nexus. She also got the chance to test her skills against Worf and his bat'leth, a bout which ended in a draw . . . much to William Riker's regret; he never got the chance to see it! (**IT**)

**KOIZUMI, Hitomi (Acting Sub-Lieutenant)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface Officer candidate assigned as Assistant Information and Communications Systems Manager. Directed the first Morse lamp contact with _Enterprise_ after _Haida_ transitioned into the Federation's universe. (**GP-3**)

**KOKONI, Kichimi**  
Battle name: **Ukitsu**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, a third-year high school student at Gogun and leader of the school's fighters; she is also Futoshi Itsuku's girlfriend. She - a spiritual descendant of the Taoist priest Yú Jí of the Latter Hàn - came with the other tōshi who went out on _Arizona_ to locate the missing _Haida_. (**IT**)

**Dahar Master KOR, son of Rynar**  
Klingon, now a member of the High Council. A former opponent of James Kirk's from the Organia Incident, he came with Emperor Kahless to Veridian III on learning of his old enemy's survival thanks to the Nexus. He was quick to realise one of Kirk's old subordinates, Montgomery Scott, had reactivated the _Enterprise_-A to bring his shipmates to Veridian III to be there at their former captain's time of need. (**TOS-1/27**, **DS9**)

**KORO, Sonami**  
Battle name: **Ry****ū****bi Gentoku**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she is currently a second-year high school student at Seito High School. One of the few tōshi touched by a haoryū (hers is named "Zhāoliè") thanks to her spiritual link to Liú Bèi of Shǔ Hàn, she is seen by Moroboshi Hiromi as not just a beloved cousin, but one of the UNEDF Director's special advisors. While they are not blood-related in this incarnation, Sonami and Hiromi are close, which Deanna Troi reflected on. Like Hiromi, Sonami is a Trekker; when she realised what particular time period they were within after their transition to the Federation's universe, she began to fret over the possible survival of James Kirk after he emerged from the Nexus. She later helped restore the famous captain to good health with the use of her dragon, as guided by Doctor Hana Hokaji. (**IT**)

**High Priest KOROTH, son of Kitok**  
Klingon, now senior spiritual advisor of Emperor Kahless, the man whom - in a way - he had helped bring "back" to life. Since Kahless' installation as Emperor of the Klingons, Koroth has lived on Qo'noS as his chief spiritual advisor. Koroth came with Kahless and Kor to Veridian III to meet up with Dujduy, returning to her the birthing sphere that would later be used to bring Carol Kirk to life. (**TNG-6/23**)

**KOTOHIKI, Kayoko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Sugimura Hiroki's would-be girlfriend, she finally reunited with him when he came aboard the _Freedom_ after acquiring his new body aboard H.M.C.S. _Haida_. (**BR**)

**KUNINOBU, Yoshitoki**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Nanahara Shūya's friend from the Charity House. Like all the other _Program_ survivors from his class, he elected to go to Tomobiki and apply to enter Tomobiki High School on relocating from the dimension of his birth to the dimension of the Earth Defence Force. (**BR**)

**KURAMOTO, ****Yōji**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Yanagi Yoshimi's would-be boyfriend, she finally reunited with him when he came aboard the _Freedom_ after acquiring his new body aboard H.M.C.S. _Haida_. (**BR**)

**KURONAGA, Hiroshi**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. A member of Kiriyama Kazuo's gang. Like his friends Numai Mitsuru, Sasagawa Ryūhei and Tsukioka Shō, Hiroshi forgave Kazuo for his actions during _The Program_ on learning of their "boss'" childhood injury, which literally turned off his emotions until the day he died at the hands of Nanahara Shūya. (**BR**)

**KUROSAWA, Ryō**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Rescued with his classmates by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_, he would later elect to become an Avalonian and start his life anew in Tomobiki. He is the leader of the _Schwartz Katze_ ("The Black Cats"), a gang of toughs that would later merge with Kiriyama Kazuo's gang. (**BR2**)

**KUSAKA, Yumiko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One of the girls seen as sort of a moral pillar for the others to fall back on (as is her bond-mate, Kitano Yukiko), she advised everyone to launch a rescue to save all the would-be "players" for Event 56-31 when they were located. (**BR**)

**KY'LOS, Shyrae (Fleet Admiral)**  
Andorian-form Questor, assigned as Director-in-Chief of Section 31 of Starfleet Intelligence (even if, like her counterparts elsewhere, she is represented in "public" meetings by other officers pretending to serve in her position to ensure her true nature is kept secret from the public at large). One of the elder of her race alive today, Shyrae is very good friends with a whole group of people within and beyond the Federation. She is actually a contemporary in her life as an organic Andorian of the legendary Commander Thy'lek Shran. One of her closer friends is Roy Pannan. (**A&Q**)

**La FORGE, Geordi Edward (Lieutenant-Commander)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as Chief Engineering Officer. Was part of the away team that went aboard _Haida_ after the Canadian starship transitioned into the Federation's universe. He lead the various analysis teams who took to investigate the Sagussan technology which made _Haida_ possible, plus was present when his best friend Data's daughter Lal was restored to full function by Asai Mayumi. He couldn't save the _Enterprise_ from the warp core breach she suffered at the Battle of Veridian III, but he made sure personnel from the secondary hull were evacuated before the breach destroyed that part of the ship. By the time the new U.S.S. _Bozeman_ and the U.S.S. _Haida_ had been commissioned in 2373, his VISOR (which helped him see thanks to the blindness he had suffered since birth) had been replaced with ocular implants. (**TNG**)

**LAL**  
Terran-form Soong-type android. The "daughter" of Data, she was constructed with more advanced programming, including submicron matrix transfer technology. Her advanced capabilities - which included expressing emotions - ultimately proved too much for her; she suffered a fatal cascade failure of her central processors and was forced to be deactivated. When _Enterprise_ encountered _Haida_ and the crew of the Canadian starship learned of her current state (her body was in storage aboard the Federation ship), she was brought aboard _Haida_, had her systems repaired and augmented by Asai Mayumi and was restored to full function. Part of those repairs included the insertion of a meson crystal in her central matrix. However, a 7.14 second contact between Lal's and Mayumi's souls allowed Lal to absorb Mayumi's social programming, including the Japanese tradition of addressing elders as either "uncle" or "aunt." Lal was near the starboard impulse engine room during the Battle of Veridian III; it was her that which saved James Kirk from being crushed by a falling structural frame. She would join her father and his friends on the _Enterprise_-A on their return to Earth. (**TNG-3/16**)

**LAVELLE, Samuel Daniel "Sam" (Lieutenant, Junior Grade)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a junior flight control officer. He was at that post when the _Enterprise_ and the _Haida_ detected the gravimetric distortion wave from the destroyed Amargosa star. He was also at that post sometime later when the _Enterprise_ was fired on by the _qawJa'roD_ in the Battle of Veridian III. (**TNG-7/15**)

**LECLERC, John Kevin Patrick (Captain)**  
Terran, assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Infantry Officer assigned as Operations Officer of 3 Company, he was the land forces duty officer at the time the _Haida_ transitioned into the Federation's universe; he helped out with some of the decisions made by _Haida_'s command staff concerning revealing what they knew of the Federation's universe to the crew of _Enterprise_. As with most officers now wearing the hat badge of the Guards, he is a former member of le Royal 22e Régiment; that allowed him to become friends with a sister Vandoo from the Federation's universe, T'Thelaih Mason, who once served in the counterpart of the legendary Canadian infantry unit, the 22nd Infantry Battalion (Royal 22e Régiment) of the Starfleet Marine Corps. (**A&Q**)

**LEFLER, Robin Morganna (Lieutenant, Junior Grade)**  
Mars-born Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as an engineering mission specialist. The author of "Lefler's Laws," a series of over a hundred personal sayings which gave her guidelines by which to live her life, she created a new one - "_Anything you believe about any subject can easily be disproved._" - when she helped in the creation of the first atoms of mesonium in the Federation's universe, which would later help in Lal's restoration to full function. During the Battle of Veridian III, she was in charge of a group of evacuees from the _Enterprise_'s damaged secondary hull to the _Haida_. She is also emotionally very close to Wesley Crusher. (**TNG-5/02** & **TNG-5/06**)

**LEONETTI, Master Shipwright Matthew Thomas (Commodore**, retired**)**  
Terran, the master shipwright and the Chief Director of Ship Production of the San Francisco Fleet Yards on Earth, which constructed the new U.S.S. _Bozeman_. He is a former Starfleet engineering officer. (**A&Q**)

**LINWELL, Master Shipwright Caroline Francine**  
Terran, the master shipwright and Senior Architect of Starship Construction at the Port Weller Spacedocks on Earth, which constructed the U.S.S. _Haida_. (**A&Q**)

**LITCHENBURG, Jacqueline Evanna (Operations Specialist Third Class)**  
Terran, currently assigned to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as a member of the ship's combat information centre team. A descendant of survivors of the Holocaust, she was the one who identified the starship _Farragut_ when _Arizona_ appeared in the Federation's universe looking for _Haida_. Later, when _Arizona_ was in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, she was the one who read off a laser beam message sent to the American starship from a KH-11 reconnaissance satellite. She was later put in charge of an extraction mission to pull out the would-be players of _The Program_'s Event 56-31 from their place of imprisonment. Her actions there, as Keith Hayward was quick to realise, would soon win her a promotion to petty officer 2nd class. (**A&Q**)

**LORRAH, Kevin Donald (Commander)**  
Terran, the chief engineering officer of U.S.S. _Arizona_. He was taught how to perform an inter-dimensional warp by Moroboshi Negako, executing same to bring the American starship (with some hidden Organian assistance) to where _Haida_ was. (**A&Q**)

**LURSA, daughter of Ja'rod**  
Klingon, joint-guardian of the heir to the headship of the House of Duras. Considered a renegade by the government of the Empire in the wake of the Klingon Civil War, she and B'Etor engaged the help of the El-Aurian scientist Tolian Soran to create a super-weapon which would allow them to defeat their enemies and overthrow Chancellor Gowron. She commanded her clan's last ship, the D-12 Bird of Prey _qawJa'roD_ ("Memory of Ja'rod"), against the _Enterprise_ in the Battle of Veridian III. She and her crew were beamed off the ship by _Haida_'s materialisers, then placed into the Canadian ship's brig, where they all learned of the duplicity of one of their crewmember, the Klingon-form Questor Dujduy (whom they knew as "Duy'ij"). In the wake of that battle, Dujduy had them sent back to Qo'noS for trial and life imprisonment on Rura Penthe. (**TNG**)

**MADDEN, Brian Nicholas (Chief Missile Technician)**  
Terran, currently assigned to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as a senior weapons technician for the ship's missile systems. A former member of the ship's company of the missile submarine _Alabama_, Madden was consulted for his knowledge on the Trident D5 system, which was similar to the Kairyū system used by the Navy of the Greater East Asia Republic. (**A&Q**)

**MAEDA, Aki**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 41-28 (from 1985). She was manning the main combat sensor station on the bridge of the _Freedom_ when a Space Dhow from H.M.C.S. _Haida_ came over bearing Moroboshi Hiromi and friends. (**A&Q**)

**MAEZONO, Kenji**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Rescued with his classmates by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_, he would later elect to become an Avalonian and start his life anew in Tomobiki. He is a member of the _Schwartz Katze_ ("The Black Cats"). (**BR2**)

**MAGO, Tsueko**  
Battle name: **Sonsaku Hakufu**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she is a second-year high school student at Nan'yō and - given her link to her past self, Sūn Cè of Dōng Wú - now the current leader of the tōshi attending that school. She was part of the rescue team that came aboard _Arizona_ to locate Moroboshi Hiromi and her friends aboard _Haida_. She also tried to lighten up the meeting between Moroboshi Hiromi and Sakaki Yūko; like she is want to do with people she respects, Tsueko called the young _Program_ survivor "Yūkitchi," which caused Yūko to blush. As Tsueko has a dragon (Shàobà) in her, she helped Hana Hokaji heal Jim Kirk with an infusion of ki. She also later participated in the "Shiroiwa Raid" to rescue the relatives of Yūko and her classmates. (**IT**)

**MASON, T'Thelaih Cassandra (Marine Captain)**  
Terran-Vulcan hybrid, assigned to Starbase 105 as a tactical weapons expert, was temporarily detached to U.S.S. _Enterprise_. While she does honour both of her racial ancestries, Mason is not a follower of _c'thia_, the Vulcan way of reality-truth ("logic" as it is mistakenly translated as); she does express emotions in much the way Spock's half-brother Sybok did. A member of the Starfleet Marine Corps, she had served in the 22nd Infantry Battalion (Royal 22e Régiment) of the Corps, thus she recognised Kevin Leclerc's regimental badges when she boarded _Haida_ with the initial away team after the Canadian starship had transitioned into the Federation's universe. Her analysis of the Battle of Veridian III and the multi-layer weapons capabilities of _Haida_ went into the construction of the new Tribal-class escort cruisers built by Starfleet; the lead ship, U.S.S. _Haida_ NX-63215, was commissioned in 2373 under command of James Kirk. Mason, by then a major in the Corps, won the chance to become _Haida_'s Tactical Officer as part of the commissioning crew. (**A&Q**)

**MATSUI, Chisato**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One of the "lighthouse girls" (along with Noda Satomi, Sakaki Yūko, Nakagawa Yūka, Tanizawa Haruka and Utsumi Yukie), she was one of many saved from death by the Staff of Gihan. When Mimura Shinji commented on Nanahara Shūya's luck in attracting girls (such as Yukie and her bond-mate, Nakagawa Noriko), Chisato automatically offered herself as a potential date for the basketball player/computer hacker, which he was happy to accept. (**BR**)

**MATSUKI, Shiho**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Like all her classmates, she was rescued by personnel from U.S.S. _Arizona_. An honours student, she would shock all her classmates by becoming lovers with a class rival, Fukuda Kazumi, after they both became Avalonians and underwent their "times of the month." (**BR2**)

**McCOY, Doctor Leonard Horatio (Admiral**, retired**)**  
Terran, retired from Starfleet service in 2353, last served as Surgeon-General of Starfleet. Former chief medical officer of the first two starships named _Enterprise_ under James Kirk. He - along with Kirk's other command crew - commandeered their second ship (which had been in a maintenance facility over Luna in the wake of her decommissioning in 2293; the ship was brought to service by Montgomery Scott with the support of both John Harriman and Nyota Uhura) to proceed to Veridian III to look in on their former commander. Though he was hopeful Kirk would recover, McCoy was prepared for the worst . . . then got the shock of his life when several tōshi under Doctor Hana Hokaji managed to heal Kirk of all his wounds with a massive outpouring of ki. McCoy also got the chance to be there when Kirk's Questor daughter Carol was born. (**TOS**)

**McELROY, Katharine Joanna (Chief Purser)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, the chief purser of R.M.S. _Titanic_. She welcomed the former players of _The Program_ aboard the White Star Line starliner after the _Freedom_ was evacuated pending a decision on its final fate. (**A&Q**)

**The METRON**  
A still-youthful native of one of the elder races of the galaxy, he visited the planet Organia to discuss the incident at Veridian III with the elders of that world. He was the same member of his race who had once met James Kirk on the planet where he had fought a Gorn captain sometime in 2267. (**TOS-1/19**)

**MIFUNE, ****Yūka**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Like all her classmates, she was rescued from being forced to either kill or die by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_. Also like her classmates, she elected to make a new life for herself as an Avalonian in Tomobiki. She is a member of Fukuda Kazumi's gang of delinquents; they would later merge together with Sōma Mitsuko's gang. (**BR2**)

**MILLER, Hugh James (Master Chief Aviation Survival Technician)**  
Terran, assigned to the United States Coast Guard's liaison unit to U.S.S. _Arizona_. He is good friends with Jake Galloway, stemming from the time Miller was posted aboard U.S.C.G.C. _Munro_ in Kodiak (Alaska) and Galloway was posted to 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron in Comox (British Columbia). (**A&Q**)

**MILLER, Jessica Sandra (Captain)**  
Call-sign: **Slipstream**. Terran, assigned to 434 Space Tactical Fighter Squadron. Pilot officer, trained as a fighter pilot, qualified on the CF-188 Hornet and the CSF-196 Starfire. Was aboard _Haida_ as 21 Space Wing duty officer on her transition to the Federation's universe; as one of the senior officers aboard at the time, she was consulted for her opinions before open contact was made with _Enterprise_. (**A&Q**)

**MIMURA, Shinji "Mim"**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Another of the men of that class who was forced to stay disembodied for ten months while his female classmates worked to save all _The Program_ victims, Shinji finally regained physical form thanks to the Staff of Gihan with the help of Moroboshi Negako. A basketball player and amateur hacker, he got the chance to stick it hard to the government that murdered his beloved uncle when he got aboard the battlewagon _Freedom_, using advanced Niphentaxian technology to learn where Event 56-31 was being held (though he was helped thanks to a dream Inada Mizuho had concerning her future lover, Niimi Rena). He also lamented the luck his friend Nanahara Shūya has when it comes to girls, but there are many girls in his class willing to keep him company when he desires it. (**BR**)

**MINAMI, Kaori**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. She was killed in that event, then had her soul transported through the dimensions to the Avalon bioroid factory. Saved when Inada Mizuho seized control of the Staff, Kaori feared a return to the dimension of her birth. Such fears soon became so great that the Staff triggered a mass dimensional shift, sending all the _Program_ survivors awake to date into the dimension of their birth . . . and, at the same time, sending Kaori, Mizuho and their friend Etō Megumi into the Nexus (along with the _Haida_). She would later be found, then be transported to the _Haida_ for their eventual return home via the Greater East Asia Republic's universe. Much to the surprise of many familiar with the manga that depicted their story, she is lovers with Shimizu Hirono, the woman whom she was fighting with when she was shot down by Kawada Shōgo. (**BR**)

**MINEGISHI, Ruriko (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Sonar Operator recruit assigned to the passive sensory team. She received guidance and orders from Michelle Anderson when _Haida_ made landfall on Veridian III to locate Tolian Soran's missile launcher. (**GP-4**)

**MITCHELL, Peter Terrance "Pete" (Captain)**  
Call-sign: **Maverick**. Terran, he is assigned to 72nd Carrier Air Wing as the Commander Air Group. A veteran of the F-14 Tomcat and the F/A-18 Hornet before he qualified on the F-96 Starfire, he was more than willing to accept his former TOPGUN rival Tom Kazanski's offer to become the senior flyer aboard U.S.S. _Arizona_ when she was commissioned. He flew as Kazanski's wingman to Andrews Air Force Base when the commanding officer of _Arizona_ was invited to meet with President Bill Clinton. (**TG**)

**MIYA, Rei (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Boatswain recruit assigned to work both in the materialiser rooms and the ship's quarterdeck. She manned the controls in Materialiser Room Five for the joint _Haida_/_Enterprise_ away team into the Nexus. (**OJE**)

**MORI, Senior Chairman Yoshir****ō**  
Terran, the Senior Chairman of the Central Committee of the Greater East Asia Republic; in effect, the Republic's head-of-state/government. He was killed alongside all his peers when the Staff of Gihan was unleashed on the hard-core _Program_ supporters as a way of literally decapitating the leadership of the Republic. (**A&Q**)

**MOROBOSHI, Ataru**  
Avalonian DNA-enhanced Terran, the brother and genetic template to Moroboshi Negako, Moroboshi Hiromi and Moroboshi Tariko, shared boyfriend to Sebone Shikuko and Noberu Miyako. A second-year high school student at Tomobiki High School. The man who saved Earth in the year 2009 when he faced off against Redet Hensō in an Urusian-style tag race. When _Haida_ disappeared with Hiromi, Negako had Ataru board _Yamato_ to go in pursuit of the _Freedom_; he was accompanied by his lovers. During their time in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, Ataru helped out in the raid on Shiroiwa to protect the relatives of the players in Event 56-30 from being held hostage by the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army in hopes of making Nakagawa Noriko surrender. He was part of the group who discovered what had happened to Kiriyama Kazuo's parents. (**UY**)

**MOROBOSHI, Ataru (**of the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic**)**  
Terran, the surviving son of Moroboshi Muchi and his wife Kinshō. A child of six in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, he was being groomed by his parents to eventually participate in _The Program_, though he personally hated the show for its constant depiction of pretty girls dying. Fortunately for him, the alternate timeline counterpart of one of his then-unknown mental "guests" arranged for him to be taken to another world where he would eventually gain three sisters of his own. (**UY**)

**MOROBOSHI, Hiromi**  
Battle name: **Ry****ū****k****ō**** Ky****ō****rei**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she is currently a second-year high school student at Tomobiki High School. She also serves as Director of the United Nations Earth Defence Force, with her flagship as H.M.C.S. _Haida_. All tōshi view her as their reborn emperor; in her first life, she was Liú Hóng, the Xiàolíng Emperor of the Latter Hàn Dynasty. She was aboard _Haida_ celebrating Christmas with friends when it was accidentally transported into the Federation's universe. Though she was wounded in the transition, she recovered enough to come meet the away team from _Enterprise_ when they came aboard. Caught at first (as were the others) by the moral conflict rising from their knowledge of future events thanks to the movie _Star Trek - Generations_ (and how the revelation of that knowledge would clash with the Prime Directive and Temporal Prime Directive), Hiromi felt she had no choice but to reveal the existence of James Kirk inside the Nexus when Elsa da Sica and Triela Hilshire sensed Guinan's fractured soul when they were in Ten-Forward. Hiromi was part of the joint _Haida_-_Enterprise_ away team to the Nexus to retrieve not just Kirk, but three veterans of the infamous _Program_ as portrayed in the manga _Battle Royale_, which she was familiar with. She would later direct _Haida_ (joined by _Arizona_ and _Yamato_) to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic to stop the massed female _Program_ survivors from using the weapons systems of a Niphentaxian-built Kashin-class battlewagon against their old homeland; she suggested the use of the Staff of Gihan in seeking out the retribution those poor people ultimately wanted. In the wake of that, she arranged for all of those people - now Terran-turned-Avalonians thanks to the Staff - to resettle in Japan. (**PFTA**)

**MOROBOSHI, Kins****hō**  
Terran, Moroboshi Ataru's mother. In the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, she was a passionate _Program_ supporter thanks to the loss she felt when Ataru's twin brother Kaeru died when he was just three years old. In fact, she hoped that when Ataru's turn came to play in the _Program_, he would not survive. Fortunately for her son, the Staff of Gihan ended up killing her long before that could ever happen. (**UY**)

**MOROBOSHI, Muchi**  
Terran, Moroboshi Ataru's father. Like his wife Kinshō, he was badly affected by the death of their other son Kaeru, thus they came to see the _Program_ as a possible way of forever relieving the burden of their still-living son off their shoulders. The Staff of Gihan would kill him along with his wife long before that could ever happen. (**UY**)

**MOROBOSHI, Negako**  
Known to all aware of her as either **The Black Death of the Martial Arts** or **The Earth Angel**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she is the adopted sister of Moroboshi Hiromi and her siblings Ataru and Tariko. One of the most powerful and well-skilled martial artists of her time. She is her Earth's first true artificial sentience, having been created nine centuries ago as a way of allowing her future family to have a living library of knowledge and experience to access on demand. Having achieved full sentience in 1808, she became a being feared by many . . . save the fifty-seven people over a period of 202 years who swore the "Promise of Bunka Go-nen" to see her able to live her life, which her adopted brother Ataru effectively did on the planet Okusei. A being that literally lives on the border of true omnipotence, Negako often converses with various higher life-forms through the _Te'a_; the Organians, the Metrons and others in the Federation universe being several of them. It was the Organians under Ayelborne who helped _Arizona_ - with Negako aboard - to get to where _Haida_ was so they could return home. Negako agreed with Ayelborne to keep Ataru away from the Federation universe; he was sent into the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic with _Yamato_. (**TSY**)

**MOROBOSHI, Tariko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, the emotional and physical twin to Moroboshi Ataru (who first physically appeared when Ataru ate spicy alien candy given to him by Hensō, then ate a cursed cake made by Cherry to wind up being split into twins). When Moroboshi Hiromi disappeared with the _Haida_, she went aboard the Avalon bioroid factory to learn what was going on. She also arranged to have three more Earth Defence Force starships - along with six civilian starliners of the Cunard and White Star Lines - come to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic to ensure all the _Program_ survivors could finally get off the _Freedom_ and enjoy comfortable quarters for a change. (**UY**/**PFTA**)

**MOROKUZU, Ry****ō****ko**  
Battle name: **Shokatsury****ō**** K****ō****mei**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she is currently a third-year middle school student at Seito Junior High School; she also works as a temple maiden in the Tōgen Abbey in Chichibu. The chief spiritual advisor to Koro Sonami, she is one of the tōshi who is possessed by a haoryū, who is called "Fúlóng" by those who know of such a being; in her first life, she was Chancellor Zhūgě Liàng of Shǔ Hàn. She gladly assisted in the retrieval of the "horcruxi" of the survivors of the _Lakul_ from the Nexus when Doctor Tolian Soran was allowed at last to achieve his dream in the wake of the Battle of Veridian III. She also used her power to help Deanna Troi better control her own empathy when around other tōshi. (**IT**)

**MOTOBUCHI, Representative Ichimaru (**later **Prime Minister)**  
Terran, Motobuchi Kyōichi's father and a member of the House of Representatives of the rubber-stamp Diet of the Greater East Asia Republic. Forced to realise how powerless he really was when his son was made to participate in _The Program_, he would later learn of Kyōichi's ultimate survival thanks to the Staff of Gihan, though he would be torn anew when he learned his son would be forced to live in another dimension. In the wake of the mass killing of the hard-core _Program_ supporters across Japan thanks to the Staff, he became the first Prime Minister of the newly-renamed Republic of Japan and launched a massive reform campaign in his son's memory. (**A&Q**)

**MOTOBUCHI, Kyōichi**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Like most of his classmates, he had died on Oki-shima, but was later saved by the Staff of Gihan. Along with his other male classmates, he was restored to physical form thanks to the Staff (with the help of Moroboshi Negako, who guided Inada Mizuho in using the Staff to manipulate the gestation tanks to ensure that Kyōichi and his friends could come back as boys in lieu of girls). (**BR**)

**MULLEN, Michael Glenn "Mike" (Admiral)**  
Terran, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the American military. Along with his counterparts from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan and Brazil, he met with Moroboshi Hiromi at the latter's house after _Haida_ returned to her home dimension to discuss what had happened over the Christmas holidays. (**R**)

**NAGATA, Anna**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 5-6 (in 1949). She was manning the weapons control station on the battlewagon _Freedom_ when three ships from the Earth Defence Force came to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic in hopes of bringing all the _Program_ survivors back to their proper home. (**A&Q**)

**NAKAGAWA, Noriko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One of the two survivors of that event, Noriko's soul was seized by the Staff of Gihan shortly after her and Nanahara Shūya's arrival in the United States in preparation to be inserted into an Avalonian bioroid body to make her a child sex-slave. Saved by Inada Mizuho, she was awoken, then found herself eventually becoming the _ashi'cha_ of all the _Program_ survivors as the Shiroiwa girls urged Mizuho to use the Staff to draw all their souls into the dimension of the Avalon bioroid factory. Like many, Noriko came to fear that she and her co-survivors would be forced back into the dimension of her birth, so she agreed to Sōma Mitsuko's and Shimizu Hirono's suggestion to take a captured Kashin-class battlewagon (renamed the _Freedom_) into the dimension of the Greater East Asia Republic to destroy the government ruling that country to ensure their future safety. Waved off by Moroboshi Hiromi when H.M.C.S. _Haida_ and two other ships came after the _Freedom_, Noriko would later agree to the suggestion to use the Staff to literally burn out the minds of all those in the Republic who wholeheartedly supported the _Program_, thus "cutting away the dead flesh" and allowing a new Republic of Japan to arise in its place. Noriko would - along with all her classmates - move to Tomobiki and plans to attend Tomobiki High School alongside her beloved bond-mate Utsumi Yukie. (**BR**)

**NAKAGAWA, Yūka**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One of the "lighthouse girls" who had died during their event and later revived by the Staff of Gihan, Yūka would later become the chief cook aboard the _Freedom_ when the _Program_ survivors were made to come back to the universe of their birth. Naturally, when Moroboshi Hiromi came aboard the captured battlewagon, she immediately inquired if the snacks that would be served to her would possess the "Yūka seal of approval." There is no known relationship between Yuka and Nakagawa Noriko. (**BR**)

**NANAHARA, ****Shūya**** "Sh****ū****"**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One of the two to survive that event, Shūya's soul was seized by the Staff of Gihan shortly after his and Nakagawa Noriko's arrival in the United States in preparation to be inserted into a female Avalonian bioroid body to make him a child sex-slave. Saved by Inada Mizuho, Shūya had to remain in an incorporeal state for ten months until he was restored to a proper male body with the help of Moroboshi Negako. A popular member of his class, he was quick to win the attention of many of his female classmates, especially Noriko and her bond-mate Utsumi Yukie. A would-be pop music guitarist, he looked forward to the chance to start up his career in earnest after graduating from high school. (**BR**)

**NANAMI, Jun**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Rescued with his classmates by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_, he would later elect to become an Avalonian and start his life anew in Tomobiki. He is a member of the _Schwartz Katze_ ("The Black Cats"). (**BR2**)

**NANASE, Kasumi (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Musician recruit assigned to the ship's concert band as a flute player. She was part of the casualty clearance team under Stuart Colvin when people from _Enterprise_ were beamed over to _Haida_ during the Battle of Veridian III. She joined in with band mate Kakizawa Eri to play the song _Arrival_ for the children in the group to calm them down, especially a young girl with a teddy bear who was worried about her mother. (**TLS2**)

**NATSUKIMI, Makoto**  
Battle name: **Kakōton Genjō**. Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, a second-year high school student attending Kyoshō. Ever loyal to his cousin Tsukasa Torusuke (a loyalty that was first established in their first lives, when Makoto was Xiàhóu Dūn of Cáo Wèi), Makoto was part of the team of tōshi who boarded the _Arizona_ when the _Haida_ disappeared into another dimension. Later, in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, Makoto helped out in the "Shiroiwa raid," where the tōshi helped rescue the relatives of the "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-30 from being arrested as a way of trying to force Nakagawa Noriko and the other _Program_ survivors to submit to their will. (**IT**)

**NATSUKIMI, Mien**  
Battle name: **Kakōen Myōsai**. Terran-turned Avalonian, a second-year high school student attending Kyoshō. Like her beloved cousin Makoto (in her first life, Mien was Xiàhóu Yuān of Cáo Wèi), she was willing to go with other tōshi to locate the missing Moroboshi Hiromi. She would also participate in the "Shiroiwa raid" that saved the relatives of the "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-30 from being arrested; she used her weighted garrotte to cut off the head of a sergeant in the NADA. (**IT**)

**NATYNCZYK. Walter J. (General)**  
Terran, the Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces. Along with his counterparts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil and Australia, he met with Moroboshi Hiromi at the latter's house after _Haida_ returned to her home dimension. In that discussion, he asked Hiromi to come over to Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Valentine's Day to attend an awards ceremony where Michelle Anderson would get her promotion and Padre Vincent Klein would be finally awarded his Victoria Cross. (**R**)

**NECHAYEV, Alynna Andreievna (Fleet Admiral)**  
Terran, currently assigned to Starfleet Command Headquarters in San Francisco as Chief of Fleet Operations. She presided over the commissioning ceremonies of U.S.S. _Bozeman_ and U.S.S. _Haida_ at Starbase 12. (**TNG** & **DS9**)

**NEGISHI, Chihiro (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Steward recruit assigned as to the Wardroom. She was there when the away team from the _Enterprise_ came to visit. (**OJE**)

**NEGM, Ahmed Mohammed (Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Communicator, he currently serves as the senior non-commissioned member of the ship's Combat Department. He was in the ship's operations room when Kiriyama Kazuo was aboard, trying to analyse any possible threats against the _Freedom_ from the Greater East Asia Republic. (**A&Q**)

**NICHOLAS, Henry Duke (Sergeant Major)**  
Terran, assigned to Headquarters 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (the U.S.S. _Arizona_'s on-board Marine Corps contingent) as the formation sergeant-major. He was in the goat locker of _Arizona_ along with friends from both that ship and _Haida_ when the rescue mission was launched to locate the missing Canadian starship. Like many there, he was shocked on learning the truth behind Sakaki Yūko. (**A&Q**)

**NIIDA, Kazushi**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. He was persuaded by Tendō Mayumi to try his luck on the weapons systems on the _Freedom_ under Akamatsu Yoshio's guidance. (**BR**)

**NIIMI, Rena**  
Terran, would-be participant in _The Program_, Event 56-31. An asthmatic, she was captured by the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army shortly after _Freedom_ came into the dimension of the Greater East Asia Republic. Her nearly-sensing what was going on just as she was passing out from knockout gas alerted Inada Mizuho as to which class in the Republic was going to be forced to "play" next, thus allowing Mimura Shinji to track them down and arrange for their rescue with the help of Jacqueline Litchenburg and personnel aboard _Arizona_. On her becoming an Avalonian after the members of her class elected to follow their fellow _Program_ survivors into their new lives, she fell in love with and later bonded with Mizuho. (**BR2**)

**NOBERU, Miyako**  
Battle name: **Chinkyū Kōdai**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, a second-year high school student attending Tomobiki High School; a former Rakuyō student. Lovers with both Moroboshi Ataru and Sebone Shikuko; the latter, she is bonded to thanks to her first life as Chén Gōng of the Latter Hàn. She went with her lovers aboard the _Yamato_ to find the _Freedom_. Later, she participated in the "Shiroiwa raid" to protect the relatives of the "players" of Event 56-30 from being arrested by the government of the Greater East Asia Republic; she was in the party that went to the Kiriyama home. (**IT**)

**NODA, Satomi**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Like almost all her class, she was killed in that event, but her soul was saved from the embrace of the _Te'a_ thanks to a Niphentaxian who wanted teenage slaves based on the manga series _Battle Royale_ and used the Staff of Gihan to actually acquire all the souls of those forced to participate in that event. After the Shiroiwa girls freed themselves, Satomi joined with Nakagawa Noriko, Sōma Mitsuko, Shimizu Hirono and Chigusa Takako to form an "executive planning committee" to eventually take charge of all the female _Program_ players brought over into the dimension of the bioroid factory. Satomi put herself directly in charge of doing a detailed scan of the territory of the Greater East Asia Republic to locate all DNA samples of all the boys who had been forced to participate in _The Program_ beyond her own male classmates. Much to the surprise of many who knew her, during her time on the bioroid factory, Satomi became lovers and later bond-mates with Sakaki Yūko; Satomi was more than happy to have Yūko back in her arms when H.M.C.S. _Haida_, U.S.S. _Arizona_ and J.S. _Yamato_ came after the _Freedom_. (**BR**)

**NOMIYAMA, Haruka**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 29-37 (from 1973). She asked Tendō Mayumi if she was going to claim Akamatsu Yoshio for herself. (**A&Q**)

**NORTON, Michael Thomas "Mike" (Corporal)**  
Terran, currently assigned to the 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard U.S.S. _Arizona_; he is a former member of 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. He was in _Arizona_'s main lounge when the would-be "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-31 were brought aboard. (**PFTA**)

**NUMAI, Mitsuru**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. A member of Kiriyama Kazuo's gang. Forgiving his "boss" for his actions during _The Program_ on learning what had happened to Kazuo when he was a child, Mitsuru and his friends dedicated themselves into helping their leader better adjust to a body that now gave him the ability to emote. In many diverse ways, Mitsuru is a modern samurai, loyally serving his daimyō (Kazuo) in whatever way he can. (**BR**)

**ODA, Toshinori**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. While having finally recovered from his _Program_-induced madness that made him want to kill every one of his classmates, he was - much to his shock! - urged by Akamatsu Yoshio to turn his violinist's skills into manning the _Freedom_'s weapons systems should they be forced to defend themselves against possible attack from the Greater East Asia Republic. (**BR**)

**ODAGIRI, Shizuka (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, currently assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Communicator recruit, she is assigned as a secure systems operator. She was in the operations room when Kiriyama Kazuo was investigating the possible threat of missile submarines against the _Freedom_ with the help of Miranda Bethell and Brian Madden. (**GP97-4**)

**OGAWA, Alyssa (Lieutenant, Junior Grade)**  
Terran, assigned to the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a nursing officer. She was part of the first aid team that came to the ship's bridge during the Battle of Veridian III to handle casualties up there while Beverly Crusher went down below decks to help with other casualties in the starboard impulse control room. (**TNG**)

**OGAWA, Sakura**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One-half of the star couple of their class (with Yamamoto Kazuhiko); she finally reunited with him when he came aboard the _Freedom_ after acquiring his new body aboard H.M.C.S. _Haida_. (**BR**)

**OKAJIMA, Namie (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Musician recruit, she plays the cymbals in the marching band . . . as well as form part of the "Thunderbird Chorus," in the concert band. She performed with her friends at a special Christmas concert held aboard _Haida_ for the children and civilian dependants of _Enterprise_. (**GP97-2**)

**ON, Tsuguta**  
Battle name: **Enshō Honsho**. Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, a third-year high school student and the leader of the tōshi at the Yoshū Academy. A spiritual descendant of Yuán Shào of the Latter Hàn, he led his group of tōshi in the rescue force that boarded _Arizona_ to try to track down Moroboshi Hiromi and her friends on _Haida_. (**IT-DD**)

**OR****IKI, Ryōichi (****General)**  
Terran, the Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces. Along with his counterparts from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Brazil, he met with Moroboshi Hiromi at the latter's house after _Haida_ returned to her home dimension to discuss what had happened over the Christmas holidays. (**R**)

**Ō****SHIMA, Minister Tadamori**  
Terran, the Minister of Education in the Central Committee of the Greater East Asia Republic. Like his peers, he was put to death by the Staff of Gihan when its power was unleashed to kill all the hardcore _Program_ supporters and effectively decapitate the leadership of the Republic. (**A&Q**)

**PANNAN, Roy (**also known as **JAMESTON, Glorianna Theresa "Roy" [Lieutenant-Colonel])**  
Terran-form Questor now living as a recluse on Vulcan at the site of the Kiln of the legendary swordsmith S'harien. In her first life as Roy Jameston, she was a second-generation Augment who gained the ability to control her abilities, thus channel them into positive use when she joined the Canadian Army as an infantry officer in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Guinan served as an unofficial "aunt" to the young woman while another El-Aurian helped teach her kempō and Gōjū-ryū karate. By the time World War Three began, she had risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and had assumed command of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment. When she Crossed Into the Fold remains a mystery. She commanded that regiment right through the climactic battle of that war, the Battle of Space Station Perfection in 2079. Then - by means unknown to anyone - she was made to endure the Silence, wiping out her memories of who she was. She was next seen several years later aboard a drifting DY-400 class ship by a Vulcan exploration vessel, the _Sha'ath_. Taken to Vulcan, she was restored to a semblance of normalcy by local Questors, but could not remember who she was . . . even though it was rather obvious who she had once been. Because of that, she began to live there full-time; her new family name "Pannan" was derived from the Korean word meaning "wanderer." She became the godmother to Spock's father Sarek. It was at her home in 2395 that T'Eris was born. While most in the know believe Pannan is indeed Jameston, her existence - as with the existences of other Questors - is kept as secret as practicable, especially given the fact that many of her enemies in the Optimum Movement (the people who caused World War Three) have yet to be all accounted for. (**A&Q**)

**PARKYN, Kelley Brittany**  
Terran, was living on U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a civilian dependant. She was part of the group under Robin Lefler's charge who were beamed onto _Haida_ when the crew of _Enterprise_ was forced to evacuate the ship's secondary hull. Once aboard _Haida_, she began to cry for her mother (whom Lefler tried to assure was in the primary hull and safe). Thanks to Nanase Kasumi and Kakizawa Eri - and an impromptu performance of the song _Arrival_ - Kelley was able to calm down. (**ST-G**)

**PICARD, Jean-Luc (Captain)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as commanding officer. After having just learned of the tragic death of his brother Robert and his nephew René in a fire at his family home in France, he was forced to put aside his grief when _Haida_ transitioned into the Federation's universe and then had to deal with the matter concerning Lursa and B'Etor and their quest to use trilithium developed by Doctor Tolian Soran to seize control of the Klingon Empire. Thanks very much to the help of the visitors from another dimension and time, he was able to avert a galactic war, though it was at the constructive loss of his own ship. A year after the Battle of Veridian III, Picard was commanding officer of the sixth _Enterprise_ at the commissioning of the second U.S.S. _Bozeman_ and the first-ever U.S.S. _Haida_ to serve in Starfleet. He became very good friends with his famous predecessor as _Enterprise_'s captain, James Kirk. (**TNG**)

**Lady Seu-P'YE Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech** of Ait'uch Nehech  
Childhood name: **Kyech**. Often called **She Who Speaks to Dragons** or the **Dragonspeaker**. Noukiite-turned-Avalonian, born over three thousand years ago as a member of the "Flower Youth," a branch of the _Eyukhu_ caste of the Ten Orders of Noukiios. In effect the Noukiite analogue of Lǚ Bù, the Lady K'ekhech would eventually break away from her loyalty to the government of the day and strike out on her own. Due to her being gifted with the power of a Noukiite ch'uokyek - which effectively made her a god amongst men - she was seen as a terrible threat to the eventual restoral of power, then hunted down and killed by her fellow Flower Youth. Reborn as a Noukiite-form Avalonian thanks to the help of Ganzo dai-Louc (and given the birth-name **Eyu-P'ye Yesu-Kyech**), she would finally come to master her powers and dedicated herself into becoming a "free warrior" (in effect, a volunteer lawman) throughout the Outmatches area of Noukiite space, including the colonies closest to Earth. The version of her in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic was advised by a ch'uokyek to travel to Earth (through Triton's Central Warp Chamber) to locate that universe's Moroboshi Ataru, then take him to the planet Okusei where the spirits of Ataru's sisters Negako, Hiromi and Tariko could be allowed to go forth and live their own lives. (**PFTA**/**KM**)

**Q**  
A member of the Continuum, he was the fellow who helped restore his brother Q (the one known all too well to Guinan and the crew of the _Enterprise_) to full power in the wake of his being stripped of his omnipotence due to his many irresponsible actions. This member of the Continuum appeared on Organia when the Council of Elders and a Metron discussed the events at Veridian III. Q himself was concerned of the possible entrance of Moroboshi Hiromi's brother Ataru into the Federation's universe, but when Ayelborne promised that such would not be permitted, Q announced the Continuum would not interfere in what would happen next. (**TNG-3/13**)

**QUINN, Ward Gregory (Rear Admiral)**  
Terran, assigned now to Starfleet Command as a sector operations flag officer. He was the commander of the force (composing starships U.S.S. _Saratoga_ [his flagship], U.S.S. _Farragut_ and U.S.S. _Troper_) that responded to the _Enterprise_'s need for assistance in the wake of the Battle of Veridian III. Ordered to render a verdict over what happened in the incident where _Enterprise_ lost half her physical hull, he later judged that Jean-Luc Picard had done all he could to keep his ship safe from Lursa and B'Etor; the captain had no idea General Dujduy was aboard the _qawJa'roD_ and had modified the ship's torpedoes and disruptors to penetrate _Enterprise_'s shields. He also announced that if the _Enterprise_-D was judged a constructive loss, a Sovereign-class ship would eventually be commissioned as the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ NCC-1701-E. (**TNG-1/25**)

**RICHARDS, Sir David Julian (General)**  
Terran, the Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom's armed forces. Along with his counterparts from Canada, the United States, Japan, Australia and Brazil, he met with Moroboshi Hiromi at her house after _Haida_ returned to her home dimension to discuss what had happened over the Christmas holidays. (**R**)

**RIKER, William Thomas (Commander)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as executive officer. He was on the bridge on _Enterprise_ when _Haida_ transitioned into the Federation's universe, also part of the initial away team to the Canadian starship after contact was made. He was quick to recognise the past-selves of Ki Tsukihana and Morokuzu Ryōko as he had once read _The Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ in his youth. He took command of the ship when Jean-Luc Picard went into the Nexus to find James T. Kirk; he did so under protest as his duties as first officer demanded he do everything he can to keep his captain safe. Assisted in commanding both the _Enterprise_-D and later the _Enterprise_-A in the wake of the Battle of Veridian III. During that time, he learned from Moroboshi Hiromi that he was destined to marry his long-time intimate friend, Deanna Troi. (**TNG**)

**RIO, Alicia Dianna (Seaman Recruit)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, one of the original plank owners of U.S.S. _Arizona_ who plans to train as a yeoman. She was part of the team organised by Jacqueline Litchenburg to help rescue the would-be "players" of _The Program_'s Event 56-31. (**A&Q**)

**ROBBINS, Duke Charles (Sergeant Major)**  
Terran, assigned to the Marine guard force located at Naval Support Facility Thurmont (Camp David) in Maryland. He was in charge of a guard detail watching over two F-96 Starfires that flew down from outer space (though he didn't know about it) so the pilots and co-pilots could have a private meet with President Bill Clinton. (**A&Q**)

**ROBINSON, Brenda Gina (Lieutenant)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as Chief Transporter Officer. Manned the controls in Transporter Room Three when the party from _Enterprise_ boarded _Haida_ in the wake of the latter ship's entering the Federation's universe. She succeeded Miles O'Brien as senior transporter officer after he was posted to Deep Space Nine. (**TNG-2/04**)

**ROMSES, Barry Jacob (Master Warrant Officer)**  
Terran, assigned to 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Infantry Soldier, currently serving as Company Sergeant-Major of 2 Company; he is also a former assaulter who did time in Joint Task Force Two. The senior land forces non-commissioned officer aboard _Haida_ at the time of her transition into the Federation's universe, he was there to comfort a crying Triela Hilshire when the state of Guinan's fractured soul was finally revealed to Jean-Luc Picard and the members of his command team. (**PFTA**)

**RYBACK, Casey Steven "Case" (Commander)**  
Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, assigned to SEAL Team 72 as commanding officer. A former gourmet chef who later trained as a special operations soldier, he was convinced to return back to service after over a decade in retirement thanks to the matter with the Stargate that was in the possession of the American government. A friend of both Tom Kazanski's and Pete Mitchell's, he made himself available to cook some breakfast - none of it replicated! - for Sakaki Yūko when she came aboard _Arizona_. (**US**)

**SAEKI, Kozue (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Hull Technician recruit assigned to the ship's Damage Control Centre as a monitor technician. Was in Damage Control aboard _Haida_ at time of her transition into the Federation's universe. (**TLS3**)

**SAIT****Ō****, Minister Toshitsugu (Admiral)**  
Terran, the Minister of the Navy in the Central Committee of the Greater East Asia Republic. Like his peers, he was put to death by the Staff of Gihan when its power was unleashed to kill all the hardcore _Program_ supporters and effectively decapitate the leadership of the Republic. (**A&Q**)

**SAKAI, Yuki (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Musician recruit, she is a drummer in the marching band . . . as well as a vocalist, a part of the "Thunderbird Chorus," in the concert band. She performed with her friends at a special Christmas concert held aboard _Haida_ for the children and civilian dependants of _Enterprise_. (**GP-2**)

**SAKAKI, Kaori**  
Terran, Sakaki Yūko's mother. She was one of the ones rescued by the tōshi of the Seven Schools during the "Shiroiwa raid." (**BR**)

**SAKAKI, Sōichirō**  
Terran, Sakaki Yūko's father. He was one of the ones rescued by the tōshi of the Seven Schools during the "Shiroiwa raid." (**BR**)

**SAKAKI, Y****ū****ko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a player in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Like all of her female classmates, she was saved from final death by the Staff of Gihan, then spent a period of ten months aboard the Avalon bioroid factory. Wracked with feelings of abandonment and rejection, she - like so many others - believed that they had no choice but to go back to the dimension of their birth. When the accident with the Staff that sent the _Freedom_ into that dimension happened, Yūko was trapped in an escape pod, later to be picked up by the _Arizona_. There, she met Moroboshi Negako and was given a full explanation as to what would happened to her and her friends. Yūko came together with Inada Mizuho, Etō Megumi and Minami Kaori (they were later joined by the male members of their old class, who were allowed to live again with the Staff's help), then went back to the dimension of their birth to reunite with their fellow _Program_ victims, including Yūko's bond-mate, Noda Satomi. After they eventually destroyed the leaders of the Greater East Asia Republic with the Staff, everyone returned home. (**BR**)

**SAKAMOCHI, Kinpatsu**  
Terran, a field director for _The Program_. He administered Kawada Shōgo's first event in the _Program_ and would have administered Event 56-31 hadn't his own mind been overwhelmed by the power of the Staff of Gihan when the "players" of Event 56-30 moved to forever shut down the _Program_, killing him in the process. (**BR-N**)

**SAKAN, Somumi**  
Battle name: **Ten'i Orai**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, she is a third-year middle school student attending the Kyoshō Academy. Unlike her past-self, "È Lái" Diǎn Wěi of Cáo Wèi, Somumi is more loyal to Tsukasame Yoiko than Tsukasa Torusuke, but since both Yoiko and Torusuke are lovers at this time, it really doesn't matter. She guarded the isolation ward aboard _Haida_ when the tōshi touched by dragons used their ki to heal Jim Kirk. She also participated in a rescue mission later in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, shooting down soldiers of the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army with her bow and arrow as they moved to keep Anno Ryōko safe. (**IT**)

**SAKURAMB****Ō****, Hayao "Cherry"**  
Terran, a Buddhist monk of the Jōdoshū ("Pure Land") School. A wandering monastic who currently resides in Tomobiki. The version of him in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic found Moroboshi Negako in hopes of trying to heal his niece Sakura from spiritual ailments inflicted when she grieved the deaths of many classmates of hers thanks to the Republic's internal security forces. Negako was pleased to assist him to make sure the local dimensional counterpart of Moroboshi Ataru would not have to deal with him anytime in the future. (**UY**)

**SANADA, Mikiya (Lieutenant-Commander)**  
Terran, an officer in the Navy of the Greater East Asia Republic. A former submariner before becoming an intelligence specialist, he was the liaison officer between the Republic's Intelligence Bureau and the Interior Security Ministry. While he did not really fully-support the _Program_ in his heart - thus guaranteeing he would survive the use of the Staff of Gihan on those who did condemn so many to die over the previous fifty years - he did try to figure out what was going on concerning the _Freedom_ and the presence of so many supposedly "dead" people aboard the ship at the time. In the wake of the deaths of the Central Committee of the Republic and their supporters, he pledged his support to the new Republic of Japan and was promoted to commander. (**A&Q**)

**SASAGAWA, ****Ryūhei**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. A member of Kiriyama Kazuo's gang. Like his friends, he forgave Kazuo for what he did during their forced participation in _The Program_, electing to stay with him as they forged a new life for themselves in a new universe and a much different Japan. (**BR**)

**SASAMOTO, Narumi (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Medical Technician recruit assigned to Sick Bay. Was part of the group from _Haida_ that had come to _Enterprise_'s Stellar Cartography Monitoring Room in the wake of the revelation of the Canadians' knowledge of future events in the Federation through _Star Trek - Generations_. (**GP-2**)

**SCOTT, Montgomery James "Scotty" (Captain)**  
Terran, currently assigned as special advisor to the Starfleet Engineering Corps, former chief engineer officer of the first two starships named _Enterprise_ under James Kirk. Shortly after he was found by the _Enterprise_-D, Scotty was asked by Nyota Uhura and John Harriman to upgrade the _Enterprise_-A to modern specifications so the ship could be used if required. That requirement came when news of Kirk's survival thanks to the Nexus got out; the whole old senior staff of the ship flew out to Veridian III to meet up with their old commander. In the wake of Kirk's recovery and his return to active service, Scotty became his chief engineer once again, this time aboard the prototype Tribal-class escort cruiser U.S.S. _Haida_. (**TOS**)

**SEBONE, Mim****ō****ko**  
Battle name: **Ryomō Shime****i**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, a third-year high school student at Nan'yō. One of the tōshi who possesses a dragon within her thanks to an accident that nearly bonded her to Koro Sonami some years ago; Mimōko's dragon is called "Zǐmíng" in honour of the courtesy name of her past-self, Lǚ Méng of Dōng Wú. She was part of the Nan'yō contingent of the tōshi who boarded _Arizona_ to locate Moroboshi Hiromi and her friends on _Haida_. She also participated in the mission down to Shiroiwa to rescue the relatives of the participants of _The Program_'s Event 56-30. (**IT**)

**SEBONE, Shikuko**  
Battle name: **Ryofu Hōsen**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, a third-year high school student at Tomobiki High School, a former student of Rakuyō. Perhaps the most powerful non-dragon influenced tōshi alive today. She is lovers with both Moroboshi Ataru and Noberu Miyako; she was bonded to the latter thanks to her first life as Lǚ Bù of the Latter Hàn. She went with them aboard _Yamato_ when the Japanese starship crossed the dimensional barriers in pursuit of the missing _Freedom_. She was part of the group that went to the Kiriyama home in Shiroiwa when the tōshi as a whole went down to Shiroiwa to protect the relatives of the participants of _The Program_'s Event 56-30. (**IT**)

**SEKI, Haneko**  
Battle name: **Kan'u Unch****ō**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, currently a third-year high school student at Seito High School. Spiritually descent from Guān Yǔ of Shǔ Hàn; she welds a beautiful guāndāo which she calls the _Reienkyo_ ("Frost Fair Blade") as her past-self once did. Was aboard the _Haida_ when she transitioned into the Federation's universe. While not a Trekker like her beloved school leader Koro Sonami, Sonami's spiritual cousin Moroboshi Hiromi and her other oath-sister Haru Asumi, she did help out in the retrieval of James T. Kirk from the Nexus; it was she who had sensed the incredible power Inada Mizuho commanded in the Staff of Gihan. (**IT**)

**Doctor SELAR (Lieutenant)**  
Vulcan, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a medical officer. She was part of the away party sent to _Haida_ after the Canadian starship had transitioned to the Federation's universe, remaining aboard to help the senior officers better understand matters in the universe they were forced to be in thanks to the Staff of Gihan. (**TNG-2/06**)

**SEVEN, Gary (Supervisor)**  
Also known as **Supervisor 194**. Aegis-augmented Terran field operative of a very advanced organisation that watches over the development of less-advanced cultures. A being that can travel through both time and space, he is known to Moroboshi Negako. He came aboard the _Haida_ shortly before she left the Federation's dimension to advise Carol Kirk on what has to happen when the Borg would make an attempt at disrupting history at the time of the first contact between Terrans and Vulcans in 2063. While he was being trained by the Aegis, he met many Questors of various races. (**TOS-2/26**)

**SHELTON, Henry Hugh (General)**  
Terran, the Chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time of the _Freedom_'s visit to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic. He expressed concerns about the alien ship (dubbed "the Visitor") when it appeared in the skies over Japan. (**R**)

**SHIBUYA, Satoshi (Sergeant)**  
Terran, a trooper in the 4th Airborne Infantry Battalion of the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Forces. He controlled the cameras at Taka-shima when the leaders of the _Program_ survivors moved to permanently cancel the show. (**A&Q**)

**SHIMIZU, Hirono**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Like almost all her class, she was killed in that event, but her soul was saved from the embrace of the _Te'a_ thanks to a Niphentaxian who wanted teenage slaves based on the manga series _Battle Royale_ and used the Staff of Gihan to actually acquire all the souls of those forced to participate in that event. After the Shiroiwa girls freed themselves, Hirono joined with Nakagawa Noriko, Sōma Mitsuko, Noda Satomi and Chigusa Takako to form an "executive planning committee" to eventually take charge of all the female _Program_ players brought over into the dimension of the bioroid factory. She was on the bridge of the captured Niphentaxian battlewagon _Freedom_ when H.M.C.S. _Haida_, U.S.S. _Arizona_ and J.S. _Yamato_ came to the dimension of the Greater East Asia Republic to find the _Program_ survivors and help return them to their future home. Like several of her classmates, Hirono had become bond-mates with a person she had actually fought against on Oki-shima: Minami Kaori. When the three Earth Defence Force ships came after the _Freedom_, Hirono was more than happy to reunite with Kaori. (**BR**)

**SHIMURA, Tetsuya**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Rescued with his classmates by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_, he would later elect to become an Avalonian and start his life anew in Tomobiki. He is a member of the _Schwartz Katze_ ("The Black Cats"). (**BR2**)

**s'MIREK, Taf (High Centurion)**  
Romulan, assigned to I.R.V. _N'ventnar_ as the ship's high centurion (the senior non-commissioned officer of the crew). A former teacher of Sela's, he is a relative of the famous Commander-General Liviana Charvanek and her equally famous aunt, Proconsul Ael t'Rllaillieu. In Tokzhetoan terms, Taf is Sela's "space daddy;" much to his constant embarrassment, Tasha Yar calls him "Elder Brother" all the time. (**A&Q**)

**S****Ō****MA, Mitsuko "Hardcore"**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Like almost all her class, she was killed in that event, but her soul was saved from the embrace of the _Te'a_ thanks to a Niphentaxian who wanted teenage slaves based on the manga series _Battle Royale_ and used the Staff of Gihan to actually acquire all the souls of those forced to participate in that event. After the Shiroiwa girls freed themselves, Takako joined with Nakagawa Noriko, Shimizu Hirono, Noda Satomi and Chigusa Takako to form an "executive planning committee" to eventually take charge of all the female _Program_ players brought over into the dimension of the bioroid factory. She was on the bridge of the captured Niphentaxian battlewagon _Freedom_ when H.M.C.S. _Haida_, U.S.S. _Arizona_ and J.S. _Yamato_ came to the dimension of the Greater East Asia Republic to find the _Program_ survivors and help return them to their future home. Like several of her classmates, Mitsuko had become bond-mates with a person she had actually killed when she was on Oki-shima: Etō Megumi. When three Earth Defence Force ships came after the _Freedom_, Mitsuko was more than happy to reunite with Megumi. (**BR**)

**SORAN, Doctor Tolian**  
El-Aurian, a pioneering scientist in the use of trilithium. A survivor of the near-destruction of his people by the Borg, he was aboard the _Lakul_ the day it encountered the Nexus. His experience within the temporal-spacial "ribbon" - which actually sheared off a fragment of his soul when he was rescued by the third U.S.S. _Enterprise_ on her maiden voyage - created an obsession within him to return to the Nexus, an obsession he was about to achieve in 2371 when visitors from another dimension got in the way. Thanks to the Avalonians and their ability to sense the fractured nature of the soul of Soran's co-survivor Guinan, the scientist was eventually allowed to heal his own soul with the help of Koeru Kumomi (who retrieved the "horcrux" from the Nexus) and Moroboshi Hiromi (who brought it down to Veridian III so _satre'cha_ could occur). Regaining his sanity, Soran destroyed the trilithium missile launcher on Veridian III, then turned over copies of his research to Jean-Luc Picard, Dujduy and Heva t'Jarok before he was allowed to return to the Nexus, at peace at last with himself. (**ST-G**)

**Ambassador SPOCK (Captain**, retired**)**  
Vulcan-Terran hybrid, former captain in Starfleet, former first officer and science officer of the first two starships named _Enterprise_, now working with the Romulan unification movement to affect the cultural reunion of their people with their cousins on Vulcan. In the wake of a recent shake-up of the government of the Star Empire, his presence on Romulus is tolerated by most of the government there, as was proven when Commander-General Liviana Charvanek helped transport him to Veridian III on her own warbird so he could learn what happened to Jim Kirk. He was also there to help create Kirk's Questor daughter Carol, though she awoke on her own when her father was healed with the help of Moroboshi Hiromi's tôshi friends. He also had the chance to meet up again with Data as well as make the acquaintance of Moroboshi Negako. (**TOS**)

**STOCKWELL, Michael Ellis (Chief Aviation Boatswain Mate)**  
Terran, assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 209 that was based at the Naval Air Facility Washington (at Andrews Air Force Base). He was the chief of the ground crew that received two F-96 Starfires (though he didn't know their true origins) that flew down from U.S.S. _Arizona_ for a private night-time meet with President Clinton on Marine One. He did take notice of the pilots' and co-pilots' names on the fighters. (**A&Q**)

**Doctor STORAL (Lieutenant)**  
Vulcan, a healer posted aboard U.S.S. _Enterprise_. His wife T'Kasha served as a waitress in Ten-Forward and his brother-in-law Taurik was an engineering officer. He also has a daughter, T'Neri. He spent time about _Haida_ in the wake of the Battle of Veridian III, departing the ship through Materialiser Room Five after being escorted there by Takanashi Naoko. (**A&Q**)

**SUD****Ō****, Yuki (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Musician recruit, she is a guitar player in the concert band . . . as well as form part of the "Thunderbird Chorus," in the concert band. She performed with her friends at a special Christmas concert held aboard _Haida_ for the children and civilian dependants of _Enterprise_. (**FR2**)

**SUGIMURA, Hiroki**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One of the victims of that event, he would spend ten months disembodied thanks to the Staff of Gihan before he was allowed to resume physical form with the assistance of Moroboshi Negako. A practitioner of kung fu, he is skilled enough to impress the likes of not only Casey Ryback, Sebone Mimōko and Natsukimi Makoto, but Hayashi Ranma as well; on their first meeting at the Moroboshi home, Ranma promised he would come over to Tomobiki ever chance he got to help Hiroki train. Hiroki's actions during his forced participation in _The Program_ also impressed Worf very greatly. Hiroki is very close to his girlfriend Kotohiki Kayoko and is childhood friends with Chigusa Takako. (**BR**)

**SUGIYAMA, Mizuho (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Boatswain recruit assigned to the ship's Hazardous Environmental Maintenance Team (who handle extra-vehicular activities aboard the ship). She made sure the away team from _Haida_ and _Enterprise_ into the Nexus were fully briefed on safety procedures before they were beamed out. (**GP-3**)

**SULLIVAN, Andrew Charles "Drew" (Senior Chief Boatswain's Mate)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as the ship's Chief Boatswain's Mate ("Chief Boats" in American Navy slang). It was personnel under him who picked up a drifting lifeboat bearing Sakaki Yūko from the just-vanished _Freedom_. He is a manga fan and was horrified to learn the truth behind Yūko from Louise Watson. (**A&Q**)

**SULU, President Hikaru (Captain**, retired**)**  
Terran, former President of the United Federation of Planets for three terms, former commanding officer of U.S.S. _Excelsior_ and former helm officer of the first two starships named _Enterprise_. Like his old shipmates, he came out to Veridian III on hearing what had happened to Jim Kirk. (**TOS**)

**SUNAGA, Tomomi (Private)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Fire Fighter recruit assigned to the Damage Control Team. She was close by whenever Asai Mayumi needed some assistance, especially when it came to escorting guests from _Enterprise_ around. (**DDPL**)

**TADASU, Suguta**  
Battle name: **Tōtaku Chūei**. Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, a third-year high school student and leader of the tōshi of Rakuyō Senior High School. Now much more sane than his past-self (Dǒng Zhuó of the Latter Hàn) thanks to the help of Moroboshi Negako, he led a group of tōshi from his school to join the rescue party that boarded _Arizona_ to locate the missing _Haida_. Later, at a private meeting aboard _Yamato_, he made comment of the potential backlash of the _Freedom_'s presence in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, thus instigating the "Shiroiwa raid." (**IT**)

**TAGUCHI, Kimiko**  
Terran, a five year-old orphan resident of the Charity House under Anno Ryōko's charge. She - along with her fellow orphans - was rescued by tōshi from the Kyoshō Academy during the "Shiroiwa raid." (**A&Q**)

**TAHN, Jeina**  
Cardassian-form Questor, a member of the Obsidian Order who had been assigned to the mission to Dorvan V. She is friends with Dujduy, Heva t'Jarok, Ky'los Shyrae and Roy Pannan. She helped pretty much destroy all of Wesley Crusher's misconceptions about her ancestral race by her revealing to him what she was, as well as her profound show of respect to the Traveller. She was there when Wesley sensed the events in the Nexus, then - along with others - helped him teleport there to meet Inada Mizuho. (**A&Q**)

**TAKAHASHI, Hikaru (Lieutenant)**  
Terran, an officer in the Navy of the Greater East Asia Republic. A former coastal patrol operations officer who later switched to intelligence work, he was dispatched from Tōkyō down to Sasebo Naval Arsenal near Nagasaki to assist in ensuring that _Program_ Event 56-31 would proceed without interruptions. (**A&Q**)

**TAKANASHI, Naoko (Acting Sub-Lieutenant)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Elder Mother of the Avalonians aboard _Haida_. Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface Officer candidate assigned as Assistant Information and Communications Systems Manager. Was on the bridge of _Haida_ at time of her transition into the Federation's universe, commanded the ship when Michelle Anderson was wounded, received the away party from the _Enterprise_ when they made contact. Also assisted Moroboshi Hiromi in helping Doctor Tolian Soran in regaining control of his sanity, thus saving Veridian IV from a sun-killer bomb. (**GP-2**)

**TANIZAWA, Haruka**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One of the "lighthouse girls" killed during that event, then later revived by the Staff of Gihan, she was on the hangar deck of _Freedom_ when Moroboshi Hiromi came over from H.M.C.S. _Haida_ with several of her male classmates to convince all the female _Program_ survivors that they could start new lives in the universe of their re-birth. (**BR**)

**TANZER, Yolanda Heidi (Commander)**  
Centaurus-born Terran, currently assigned to U.S.S. _Haida_ as executive officer. She proposed an interdimensional flight to the universe of the Earth Defence Force as part of the ship's trials. She is the granddaughter of Jim Kirk's former chief of recreation, Lieutenant-Commander Harb Tanzer, from the original _Enterprise_. (**A&Q**)

**TARSES, Simon (Medical Technician 2nd Class)**  
Mars-born Terran/Romulan hybrid, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a medical technician now undergoing nursing assistant training. He was part of the medical team that responded to the damage in the starboard impulse drive of the ship in the Battle of Veridian III. During that incident, James Kirk pushed him clear of a falling frame, nearly getting crushed along the way; he would have died without Lal's help. Tarses made a report to Jean-Luc Picard in the wake of that incident. (**TNG-4/21**)

**TAURIK (Ensign)**  
Vulcan, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as a junior engineering mission officer. He was in Ten-Forward when Geordi La Forge, Reg Barclay, Robin Lefler and Asai Mayumi where there in the wake of Lal's reactivation to full function; Taurik expressed concern over how Lal was doing now that she was "alive" once more. He also commented on the fact that Mayumi did not possess a specific unit patch on her naval combat dress jacket (as did others from _Haida_ aboard _Enterprise_). He, along with his sister T'Kasha, brother-in-law Storal and niece T'Neri, departed from _Haida_ after the Battle of Veridian III through Materialiser Room Five, escorted there by Takanashi Naoko. (**TNG-7/15**)

**TEND****Ō****, Mayumi**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One of the first to be revived to life thanks to the Staff of Gihan, she eventually fell in love with the man who killed her on Oki-shima, Akamatsu Yoshio. Not bonded at the time the _Freedom_ went to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, Mayumi personally vowed that she would only share Yoshio with whomever she would become bond-mates with. (**BR**)

**TENET, Director George John**  
Terran, the Director of Central Intelligence (the senior executive of the American Central Intelligence Agency) at the time of the _Freedom_'s visit to the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic. He was at the briefing given to President Bill Clinton when the American chief-of-state was informed about "the Visitor." (**R**)

**Elder T'ERIS**  
Vulcan-form Questor, the daughter of Spock's former protégée Valeris, who was born in 2295 after her mother had attempted to commit suicide three times while in prison for treason and was judged as too far gone by even expert Vulcan healers to be saved. She was born in the home of Roy Pannan on the edge of Vulcan's Forge. Shortly after that time, she became the new elder of the House of Surak (Spock's overall clan). She remains in that position unto this day. (**A&Q**)

**T'KASHA**  
Vulcan, wife of Storal, a healer posted aboard U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as well as a waitress who works in the Ten-Forward lounge. She is Taurik's sister. She was disturbed by the cold control Elsa da Sica displayed when she was standing post in the lounge (as a result of the Avalonian's sensing the damaged nature of Guinan's soul). (**ST-G**)

**t'JAROK, ****High Councillor **Heva  
Romulan-form Questor, the actual leader of the Tal Shiar (though, like others of her race in such a high and trusted position, she has people acting as if they were in her position in "public" appearances). She - like her friends Ky'los Shyrae and Dujduy - support a full rapprochement between all the races in Alpha and Beta Quadrant, though she is willing to do whatever is required to keep those who might ultimately oppose such a thing happy in minor affairs. But when she does move against someone, it is terrible to watch; it was she who ultimately brought down Sela's father Volskiar N'vian by revealing to his daughter the truth about the oath he gave to her mother Natasha Yar and how that resulted in her "death" (and eventual move to Tokzheto). She came with Spock and Liviana Charvanek to Veridian III on learning of Jim Kirk's ultimate survival; she also helped Dujduy create Kirk's Questor daughter, Carol. (**A&Q**)

**T'NERI**  
Vulcan, a child living aboard the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ with her father Storal, mother T'Kasha and uncle Taurik. She requested Gordon Lightfoot's classic ballad _Canadian Railroad Trilogy_ in the mistaken believe that such was Canada's national anthem during the concert held for _Enterprise_'s civilian contingent aboard _Haida_. (**A&Q**)

**TORASHIMA, Minister Kazuo**  
Terran, the Minister of Defence Support in the Central Committee of the Greater East Asia Republic. Like his peers, he was put to death by the Staff of Gihan when its power was unleashed to kill all the hardcore _Program_ supporters and effectively decapitate the leadership of the Republic. (**A&Q**)

**The TRAVELLER (**also known as** "LAKANTA")**  
A native of the planet Tau Alpha possessing quite impressive meta-psionic capabilities to alter the flow of time and space. He had taken interest in Wesley Crusher on their first meeting aboard the _Enterprise_, then over the years continued to monitor the young Terran as he began showing signs of having similar powers. Finally making an offer to take Wesley under his guidance on Dorvan V, the Traveller guided him into creating his own "Pool of Prophecy" by which he was able to observe events in the Nexus. (**TNG**)

**TREFAYNE**  
Organian, a member of the Council of Elders on that world. He advised Ayelborne to do everything that could be done to ensure Carol Kirk would enter this world with her father James close by so she could be allowed to properly mature. (**TOS-1/27**)

**TREMBLAY, Douglas Carl (Captain)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Military Police officer assigned as Ship's Chief Security Officer. Was aboard the ship on her transition into the Federation's universe and was involved in many of the decisions that were made by the acting command staff during her time there. His being a Trekker - he is a member of a _Star Trek_ fan club based in Hamilton, not far away from _Haida_'s home port at Canadian Forces Base Niagara - was of specific help in this whole event. (**EDF&SG**)

**TROI, Deanna Andrea (Commander)**  
Terran-Betazoid hybrid, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as Ship's Counsellor. She was part of the away party to _Haida_ after the Canadian starship had transitioned into the Federation's universe and was quick to sense that the crew of the visiting ship were keeping something from the Starfleet officers, though Reverend Alice Klein stated that such had to be done to respect the Prime Directive and Temporal Prime Directive. She was also quite taken away by the power _Haida_'s Avalonian crew possessed; she found their youthful exuberance and their willingness to be so open with their passions and feelings almost intoxicating. She was quite surprised when the restored Lal, on their first meeting after the android's reactivation, addressed her as "Aunt Deanna." And like her long-time intimate friend William Riker, she was surprised when Moroboshi Hiromi revealed they would be married in eight years' time after 2371. (**TNG**)

**TSUGAWA, Minister Masahiko**  
Terran, the Minister of Internal Security for the Greater East Asia Republic. He was in overall charge of the running of _The Program_. Given what happened in Event 56-30, he lost much face in the eyes of his peers in the Central Committee (the ruling cabinet of the Republic). When the _Freedom_ arrived and was detected by the Republic's Hō'ō reconnaissance satellites, he moved to try to stop what Nakagawa Noriko was planning to launch against the Republic . . . but he, much less his subordinates, did not predict the use of the Staff of Gihan to kill him by driving him mad thanks to the induction of copies of the memories of ALL _Program_ players all at once in his mind. (**A&Q**)

**TSUKASA, Torusuke**  
Battle name: **Sōsō Mōtoku**. Avalonian DNA-augmented Terran, a third-year high school student at the Kyoshō Academy. One of a few tōshi bonded to a dragon (named "Tàizǔ" from a temple name bestowed to his past-self, Cáo Cāo of Cáo Wèi), he - atop leading his school contingent in the rescue party that boarded _Arizona_ to locate _Haida_ - was happy to contribute his power to the healing of Jim Kirk under Hana Hokaji's direction. He also was one of the first to realise the potential threat the interdimensional contact between the universe of the Federation and the universe of the Earth Defence Force might mean, especially given potential future threats facing the Federation from the Dominion and the Borg. Later, he led his group down to the Charity House in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic to rescue Anno Ryōko from the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army detachment sent to take her prisoner. (**IT**)

**TSUKASAME, Yoiko**  
Battle name: **Shiba'i Chūtatsu**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, a second-year high school student at the Kyoshō Academy. Another tōshi who has a dragon mated to her soul (named "Gāozǔ" from a temple-name given to her past-self, Sīmǎ Yì of Cáo Wèi), she joined others like her in helping heal Jim Kirk of his many injuries. (**IT**)

**TSUKIOKA, Sh****ō**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. A member of Kiriyama Kazuo's gang. Like his friends, Shō came to understand and forgive Kazuo's actions during _The Program_ on learning what happened to him when he was a child, thus electing to stay close to him as they move to make a new life for themselves in a new reality. Flamboyantly gay, he is finding himself trusted for his own unique opinions about his male classmates . . . especially by all the girls! (**BR**)

**TURNER, Doctor Jennifer Anna (Commander)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as chief medical officer. A former flight surgeon who often worked with Tom Kazanski, she had been personally requested to come aboard the American starship by her first captain as the senior doctor aboard. She came with _Arizona_ to the Federation's universe to help locate _Haida_; she was present in _Haida_'s Sick Bay when Jim Kirk was healed by Hana Hokaji. (**EDF&SG**)

**TYNES, Peter Nicholas (Master Seaman)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Sonar Operator, he currently serves as second-in-command of the personnel in the Remote Sensor Monitor Unit. (**A&Q**)

**UCHIMI, Kotono (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Communicator recruit assigned as a visual systems operator (she mans the ship's lookout stations). She was the first to spot the _N'ventnar_ as it de-cloaked off _Haida_'s side over Veridian III. (**GP97-2**)

**UHURA, Nyota (Admiral)**  
Terran, currently assigned to Starfleet Intelligence as chief of operations, former communications officer of the first two starships named _Enterprise_. Like her old shipmates, she came out to Veridian III on hearing what had happened to Jim Kirk; she was also there at the birth of Carol Kirk. (**TOS**)

**UMEZU, Saburō (Captain)**  
Terran, assigned to J.S. _Yamato_ as commanding officer. In the wake of _Haida_'s disappearance from her home dimension and _Arizona_'s departure to try to track her down, Umezu directed _Yamato_ to enter the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic in pursuit of the captured Niphentaxian battlewagon _Freedom_, then controlled by all the female players of _The Program_. He was nearly overwhelmed when he discovered the awful truth about how the Japan of Nakagawa Noriko's home dimension developed. (**ZP**)

**URU, Hokona**  
Battle name: **Kaku Bunwa**. Terran-turned-Avalonian, a third-year student at Rakuyō. Lover and chief strategist for Tadasu Suguta; in her first life as Jiǎ Xǔ of the Latter Hàn (who later became affiliated with Cáo Wèi), she had served originally as Dǒng Zhuó's chief strategist. She participated in the Shiroiwa raid to rescue the relatives of the "players" of _Program_ Event 56-30 from being arrested by the forces of the Greater East Asia Republic; she was part of the team that discovered what had happened to Kiriyama Kazuo's parents. (**IT**)

**UTSUMI, Yukie**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. A victim of that event like most of her class, she was later revived by the Staff of Gihan. She would eventually become lovers and bond-mates with the future _ashi'cha_ of the _Program_ survivors, Nakagawa Noriko . . . which would make things much nicer for Nanahara Shūya given Yukie's crush on him. She was quickly recognised by Moroboshi Hiromi as Noriko's bond-mate when the reborn emperor came aboard _Freedom_ for the first time. (**BR**)

**VANHEEREN, Carol Diana (Lieutenant [Navy])**  
Terran, currently assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Musician Officer, currently assigned as Director of the Ship's Band. She was ashore at the time _Haida_ disappeared, but she rejoined the crew thanks to _Arizona_ going after the other ship within hours of the Canadian starship vanishing from the skies over Earth. As _Haida_ was making her way to Starbase 105, Vanheeren directed the band in a special Christmas concert for _Enterprise_'s civilian dependants and children. (**A&Q**)

**WAKASA**  
Terran, a leader of the native American colony on Dorvan V. He commented on the Innu to Wesley Crusher, calling them "good people." (**TNG-7/20**)

**WATSON, Louise Mary (Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class)**  
Terran, currently assigned to 2 Field Ambulance, now detached to the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Guards. Physician Assistant, she is the senior non-commissioned member of the platoon assigned as the local health services unit for the 1st Battalion. While having not been whisked off by _Haida_ when she vanished from her home dimension, she did join her friends on _Arizona_ when they set out after her. There, she learned of something unspeakably horrible: the story behind Sakaki Yūko and thousands of young men and women forced to participate in an ugly event called _The Program_. (**A&Q**)

**WELLS, Samuel Raymond "Sam" (Commander)**  
Call-sign: **Merlin**. Terran, currently assigned to the 72nd Carrier Air Group. Pete Mitchell's radio interceptor officer since their days aboard U.S.S. _Enterprise_ in the later years of the Cold War, Wells serves now as Deputy Commander of the Air Group. He flew with his CAG, Tom Kazanski and Ronald Kerner to Andrews Air Force Base from U.S.S. _Arizona_ to brief President Bill Clinton on events concerning the _Program_ survivors and their plans to destroy the government of the Greater East Asia Republic. (**TG**)

**WILEY, Sherman Lionel (Senior Chief Intelligence Specialist)**  
Terran, currently assigned to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as the senior intelligence specialist for the American starship. A close friend of Keith Hayward's, he was in the combat information centre when the signal from a KH-11 (while _Arizona_ was in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic) was received, requesting a face-to-face meet between representatives of the Earth Defence Force and the American government. (**A&Q**)

**WINSLOW, Vincent Paul (Command Sergeant Major)**  
Terran, assigned to the United States Army liaison team to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as the unit's command sergeant-major. (**A&Q**)

**WORF, son of Mogh (**also known as **ROZHENKO, Worf) (Lieutenant-Commander)**  
Terran-adopted Klingon, assigned to U.S.S. _Enterprise_ as Chief Security Officer. Was on the bridge on _Enterprise_ when _Haida_ transitioned into the Federation's universe, was part of the initial away team to the Canadian starship after contact was made. He was quite impressed by the tōshi who had been aboard _Haida_, as well as Sugimura Hiroki when he later met the _Program_ participant from Event 56-30. (**TNG**)

**WRUCK, Jason Frederick (Petty Officer 1st Class)**  
Terran, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Boatswain, he was the senior member of the Deck Department aboard the Canadian starship when she transitioned into the Federation's universe. He was in command of the deployment operation from the materialiser units into the Nexus when people from _Haida_ and _Enterprise_ went in to rescue James T. Kirk, Inada Mizuho and her friends and the soul-fragments of Guinan and Tolian Soran. (**A&Q**)

**WYJTHOK, K'Neth (Sub-Commander)**  
Romulan, assigned to the I.R.V. _N'ventnar_ as weapons officer. He is a passionate believer in the traditional ways of his people, invoking the Elements (Air, Earth, Fire and Water) whenever Their intervention in the way of mortals might be required. He was _**very**_ impressed by the actions of _Haida_ concerning _Enterprise_ at Veridian III. (**A&Q**)

**WYNTHROP, Ellen Sarah (Master Chief Hospital Corpsman)**  
Terran, assigned to U.S.S. _Arizona_ as the senior non-commissioned officer in her Sick Bay; she is therefore the senior hospital corpsman for not just the ship, but for the 72nd Carrier Air Wing, 72nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and SEAL Team 72. She made herself available to Sakaki Yūko, escorting her to the ship's goat locker so she could have breakfast after she was released from Sick Bay. She also confirmed what she had learned from Moroboshi Negako concerning Yūko's origins. (**EDF&SG**)

**YAMADA, Tar****ō**** (Private)**  
Terran, a soldier in the Non-Aggressive Defensive Army of the Greater East Asia Republic. He was part of the team assigned to assist with _The Program_'s Event 56-31; he discovered the missing "players" the morning said event was to begin. He would later die thanks to the Staff of Gihan. (**A&Q**)

**YAMAGUCHI, Seina (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Steward recruit assigned as to the ship's Senior Officers Pantry. Was the first one to discover what happened to Michelle Anderson at the time of _Haida_'s transition into the Federation's universe. (**OJE**)

**YAMAMOTO, Kazuhiko**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. One-half of the star couple of their class (with Ogawa Sakura); he finally reunited with her when he came aboard the _Freedom_ after acquiring his new body aboard H.M.C.S. _Haida_. (**BR**)

**YAMANOUE, Yuri (Ordinary Seaman)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Naval Combat Information Operator recruit assigned as a plotter in the ship's Operations Room. Was on the bridge of _Haida_ at time of her transition into the Federation's universe. (**GP-1**)

**YANAGI, Yoshimi**  
Terran-turned-Avalonian, a participant in _The Program_, Event 56-30. Kuramoto Yōji's would-be girlfriend, she reunited with him when he came aboard the _Freedom_ after acquiring his new body aboard H.M.C.S. _Haida_. She was also a member of Sōma Mitsuko's gang of teenage prostitutes; as time went after the Shiroiwa girls were finally revived aboard the Avalon bioroid factory and Yoshimi learned the truth behind Mitsuko's dark history, she came to forgive the woman who had killed her on Oki-shima. (**BR**)

**YANVAK, son of Beq'd**  
Klingon, the weapons officers aboard the _qawJa'roD_. He was captured along with his crewmates by _Haida_'s materialisers, then transferred to Klingon control and returned to Qo'noS to be tried for treason. (**A&Q**)

**YAR, Natasha "Tasha" (Captain)**  
Terran-form Questor, an officer in the Royal Tokzhetoan Navy, currently assigned to the Interplanetary Confederation of Planets' Special Operations Executive. The alternate-timeline version of the former security chief of the U.S.S. _Enterprise_, who went back in time with the _Enterprise_-C to ensure the Battle of Narendra III would happen in a way that would prevent a future war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. While her daughter Sela believed for so long that her mother had betrayed her father Volskiar in attempting to run away with her, the truth was that Heva t'Jarok arranged with the SOE to have Tasha transported to Tokzheto (and allowed to Cross Into the Fold) so she could live on given that Volskiar had betrayed his promise to Tasha concerning the other _Enterprise_-C survivors (they all died in the mines of Remus). Sela would learn the truth years later, then denounce her father, seeing him and his supporters killed. Mother and daughter soon reunited, thus allowing Tasha to be aboard the _N'ventnar_ when she encountered _Haida_ over Veridian III. It was Tasha who rescued Dujduy from the _qawJa'roD_ when the general was shot down by Tolian Soran. (**TNG-3/15**)

**YAR (**_née _**N'VIAN), Sela (Commander)**  
Romulan-Terran hybrid, assigned to I.R.V. _N'ventnar_ as commanding officer. She led the Romulan response to Lursa's and B'Etor's attempt at seizing the secrets of trilithium (at the prompting of Heva t'Jarok), finally coming to Veridian III where her ship encountered the _Haida_ and later, the _Enterprise_. By then, Sela had participated in the downfall of her own father, Volskiar N'vian, after he had betrayed a sacred oath he had made to Sela's mother Natasha Yar in concerns to the survivors of the fourth U.S.S. _Enterprise_ over Narendra III years before. Sela and her crew gladly pitched in to help the crew of the current _Enterprise_ escape the destruction of her secondary hull, though it required _Haida_'s intervention to ensure no one died. Later, when she met up with Spock, the commander was stunned to discover that the ambassador was moving to play match-maker with her, introducing the grandson of a childhood acquaintance of his who would be coming back to Romulus with Spock after he saw to Carol Kirk. (**TNG**)

**YAZAWA, Ai**  
Terran, would-be player in _The Program_, Event 56-31. Like all her classmates, she was rescued from being forced to either kill or die by the crew of U.S.S. _Arizona_. Also like her classmates, she elected to make a new life for herself as an Avalonian in Tomobiki. She is a member of Fukuda Kazumi's gang of delinquents. (**BR2**)

**YOSHINO, Tomomi (Acting Sub-Lieutenant)**  
Terran-form Avalonian, assigned to H.M.C.S. _Haida_. Maritime Surface and Sub-Surface Officer candidate assigned as Assistant Ship Combat Warfare Director. Was on the bridge of _Haida_ at time of her transition into the Federation's universe, assisted in commanding the ship in the absence of senior officers under Michelle Anderson. (**GP-2**)

**ZARN, Clarke Arthur (Commander)**  
Terran, the combat officer of U.S.S. _Arizona_. He was instructed by Moroboshi Negako to have the ship's defensive systems raised to protect her on her trip through the dimensional veil to locate the missing _Haida_. Later, he was the officer of the watch when, in the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, the government of the United States communicated via a KH-11 satellite to have them contact Washington. (**A&Q**)

* * *

**SERIES CODES:**

**A&Q** - Original character introduced in _Avalonians and Questors_**  
BR** - _Battle Royale_ (character appearing in all versions)**  
BR-M** - _Battle Royale_ (movie character)**  
BR-N** - _Battle Royale_ (novel character)**  
BR2** - _Battle Royale II: Requiem_ (second movie)**  
DDPL** - _Doki Doki Pretty League_**  
DS9** - _Star Trek - Deep Space Nine_ (recurring character)**  
EDF&SG** - Original character introduced in _The Earth Defence Force and the Stargate_**  
FR2** - _Final Romance 2_**  
GG** - _Gunslinger Girls_**  
GP-1** - _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix_, Volume One, South Area Finalists**  
GP-2** - _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix_, Volume Two, North Area Finalists**  
GP-3** - _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix_, Volume Three, Mid-Area Finalists**  
GP-5** - _Zenk__oku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix_, Volume Five, East Area Finalists**  
GP97-2** - _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix 1997_, Volume Two "Growing Pretty"**  
GP97-3** - _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix 1997_, Volume Three "Shining Shy"**  
GP97-4** - _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishō__jo Grand Prix 1997_, Volume Four "Cherry Breeze"**  
GP97-5** - _Zenkoku Seifuku Bishōjo Grand Prix 1997_, Volume Five "Last Bright"**  
IT** - _Ikkit__ō_sen (recurring character)**  
IT-DD** - _Ikkit__ō_sen - Dragon Destiny**  
IT-GG** - _Ikkit__ō_sen - Great Guardians**  
IT-XX** - _Ikkit__ō_sen - Extreme Executor**  
KM** - _Koihime __Musō_ (a Noukiite who is based on one of the _KM_ characters)**  
OJE** - _Ojōsama Express_**  
PFTA** - Original character introduced in _Phoenix From The Ashes_**  
R** - A real person brought into this story**  
RN** - _Ranma 1/2_ (recurring character)**  
ST-G** - _Star Trek - Generations_**  
TG** - _Top Gun_**  
TOS** - _Star Trek - The Original Series_ (recurring character)**  
TOS-0/01** - _TOS_ pilot episode "The Cage"**  
TOS-1/19** - _TOS_ episode "Arena"**  
TOS-1/27** - _TOS_ episode "Errand of Mercy"**  
TOS-2/26** - _TOS_ episode "Assignment: Earth"**  
TOS-3/04** - _TOS_ episode "The _Enterprise_ Incident"**  
TLS** - _True Love Story_**  
TLS2** - _True Love Story 2_**  
TLS3** - _True Love Story 3_**  
TNG** - _Star Trek - The Next Generation_ (recurring character)**  
TNG-1/25** - _TNG_ episode "Conspiracy"**  
TNG-2/04** - _TNG_ episode "The Outrageous Okona"**  
TNG-2/06** - _TNG_ episode "The Schizoid Man"**  
TNG-3/13** - _TNG_ episode "Deja Q"**  
TNG-3/15** - _TNG_ episode "Yesterday's _Enterprise_"**  
TNG-3/16** - _TNG_ episode "The Offspring"**  
TNG-4/21** - _TNG_ episode "The Drumhead"**  
TNG-5/02** - _TNG_ episode "Darmok"**  
TNG-5/05** - _TNG_ episode "Disaster"**  
TNG-5/06** - _TNG_ episode "The Game"**  
TNG-5/18** - _TNG_ episode "Cause and Effect"**  
TNG-6/23** - _TNG_ episode "Rightful Heir"**  
TNG-7/15** - _TNG_ episode "Lower Decks"**  
TNG-7/20** - _TNG_ episode "Journey's End"**  
TNG-SOTL** - _TNG_ novel _Ship of the Line_**  
TSY** - Original character introduced in the series _The Senior Year_**  
US** - _Under Siege_**  
UY** - _Urusei Yatsura_ (recurring character)**  
ZP** - _Zipang_


	29. Omake: Titanic and the Space Iceberg

_**Avalonians and Questors  
**_**Omake - _The _Titanic_ and the Space Iceberg!_**  
by Vanipon (with corrections by P'yeknu)

* * *

On the bridge of the Royal Mail Starship _Titanic_, Moroboshi Negako was standing there watching the short dimensional warp back into her home dimension. She then blinked as something came to here. "Elaine?" she called out.

The shipmistress of the _Titanic_, Elaine Smith - like most of the crew aboard, she was a Terran-form Avalonian with experience in piloting cargo ships; she had been snapped up by Carnival for their new White Star service (and had adopted the family name of another captain of a ship named _Titanic_) on resettling in Southampton - looked over. "Hai, Negako-sama?"

"I would recommend that when we emerge from warp, you pilot the ship well away from the plane of Neptune's orbit around Sol," the ninjutsu grandmaster warned.

"Why?"

"From what I have seen, the natives of Triton tend to get as lazy as Saotome Genma demonstrated himself to be concerning his estranged son . . . especially when proceed to deal with all the ice and show that constantly builds up on Triton. It would not surprise me - though I personally do not know if such is true or not - that those who control the Central Warp Chamber in Kōri City simply transport the ice into outer space in lieu of transporting same to Mars as the Noukiites helped arrange after your people were liberated and the factory brought here to this solar system."

Elaine considered that. "In another words, there's a high probability of actual _space icebergs_ floating between Neptune and Pluto?" she asked, her face paling as she recalled what happened to another ship named _Titanic_ back in 1912. At Negako's nod, the captain then sighed. "I'll have the sensor technicians keep an eye out for them."

"A wise decision," Negako noted . . .

* * *

. . . which did not help things a half-hour later!

"You've GOT to be kidding me . . .!" Shinji exclaimed.

As the others _Program_ survivors - now standing on the upper observation deck - stared in shock at the rather BIG chunk of ice, impacted snow and even rock that just cut into the starboard side of the starliner on the underside of the main hull, Kazuo breathed out before he gazed on Satomi. "Satomi . . . may I give you some advice?"

"H-h-hai?" the bespectacled team then stammered.

Resisting the sudden urge to strangle his former classmate - _Wait! Why am I feeling THIS way?_ he then wondered to himself - he indicated the iceberg. "I recommend that the NEXT time that you speak of something which would remind Karma of a curse bestowed onto a specific vessel's name, PLEASE KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!"

"In other words, 'Tomi, if you think about it, DON'T FUCKIN' SAY IT!" Hirono snarled as she also fought back the urge to strangle said girl.

Of course, Satomi was quick to sense the outrage the punkish girl was now feeling towards her. "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry, Hiro! I'm sorry!" She then blinked before gazing outside at the iceberg that hit the _Titanic_. "Still . . . "

"Still what?" Mitsuko asked.

"How the HECK did THIS happen?"

The others all blinked as they considered that . . .

* * *

. . . while down in Kōri City, another discussion was happening.

"Um, Supervisor . . .?"

"Yes?"

"This paper was on the floor right beneath that last mass of ice that we just transported through the Warp Chamber," the technician said as he handed a crinkled sheet of ice parchment over to the current watch supervisor.

The older man took it and scanned through it. "Oh, this! This was a memorandum I prepared for the maintenance people who work on the warning satellites."

"The ones we send into orbit to warn travellers of the dumping sites for ice, rock and other things we cannot shift safely to Mars?"

A nod. "Yes. I'll make sure this gets over to the maintenance supervisor."

Considering that, the technician then turned to gaze on the Warp Chamber. "I hope that we didn't hit anyone with what we just disposed of," he mused.

The supervisor considered that, and then he shook his head. "It's not so much of a concern. All Federation, Noukiite and Zephyrite ship captains are aware that we do this, so they scan well ahead before sailing close to Neptune."

The technician relaxed . . . and then he tensed. "Um, Supervisor . . . "

"Yes?"

"What of the Terrans and the Avalonians?"

The older man blinked, and then he tensed. "Oh, dear . . .!"

_**The End . . . Thank God!**_

* * *

_**OMAKE NOTE:**__ Originally, Vanipon wrote that the supervisor of the Central Warp Chamber was an Urusian Imperial. But since none of them would be allowed to operate something as precious to the Neptunian race as the Chamber - and none of them, if they were still around, wouldn't be caught dead LIVING in Triton! - I had to change that scene._

_I also tweaked up Negako's and Kazuo's parts to better fit their personalities, plus brought in Hirono - who would strike me as the Shiroiwa gang's resident hothead; she does look the part! - to put the fear of the Kami into poor Satomi . . ._

KLONK!

_Hirono: _**WHO ARE YOU CALLIN' A HOTHEAD, YOU CAN-KNUCKLEHEAD JERK?**

_Eeep! Sorry . . .!_


	30. Omake: Wait! That's Not Right!

_**Avalonians and Questors**_  
**Omake - **_**Wait! That's Not Right!**_  
by Vanipon (with corrections by P'yeknu)

* * *

"Ranma, my boy!"

_SPLASH!_

"HEY!" a now transformed Ranma shrieked out as she spun around to glare at a snickering Happōsai. "You're gonna pay for that, Jijii!"

And they were off! As the newcomers from another dimension all gaped in awe as the two Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū practitioners went at it, Kotohiki Kayoko moved over to slip her arm around her boyfriend's. "If you learn from Ranma-sempai there, Hiroki-kun, you'll be going real far in life!" she coyly stated.

"Yeah . . . " the young kung fu practitioner breathed out.

The smile then disappeared from Kayoko's face. "BUT . . .!" she snapped as she grabbed him by his T-shirt to glare into his eyes. "If you start turning into a panty-thief, I'll borrow Mitsuko's kama scythe and kill you in your sleep!"

Hiroki was suitably intimidated. "H-h-hai . . . "

"Um . . . Boss, you okay?"

People perked on hearing Numai Mitsuru's voice, and then they turned . . .

. . . before they ALL gaped on seeing a VERY wide-eyed Kazuo shuddering as if he was standing naked in an Arctic wind, the tendons over his eyelashes twitching wildly as his head shook to and fro in denial. "Boss!" Izumi cried out as she moved to stare into her boyfriend's face. "Kazuo! Speak to me! Kazuo! KAZUO!"

Watching this from nearby, the members of the Hayashi family - now joined by Moroboshi Tariko, who was now holding Kanami's hand - all blinked. "Hmmm . . . the lights are on but it seems there isn't anybody home," Tariko mused.

Then others of his gang were all moving to either shake him or wave their hands in front of his face. "Yo, Kaz! You awake in there, man?" Ryō demanded.

"Shit! He's never seen magic before!" Sasagawa Ryūhei stated.

"How are you sure it's magic?" Maezono Kenji demanded.

"You dipshit! Don't you understand? THAT'S SAOTOME RANMA!"

"Pig-tailed goddess . . .!" mumbled Kazuo in an almost audible whisper.

"_**HEY!**_"

EVERYONE got blasted down by that shout! As people recovered, they then stared wide-eyed at a now glowing Ranma, her eyes ablaze with fury. "_**DON'T - CALL - ME - 'SAOTOME!'**_" she bit off a word at a time, and then she bellowed, "_**GOT ME?**_"

"H-h-HAI, SEMPAI!" all save Kazuo (who was STILL stunned speechless and now white as snow on having seen the wandering martial artist transform like that and then blasted into the bulkhead by the yell!) and both Mizuho and Rena (who, as proper priestesses should, ignored the silly fellow's bluster) chanted.

She then turned on Kazuo. "_**YOU!**_"

He perked. "H-h-hai . . .?"

A Demon Head made him cringe. "_**IF YOU EVER WISH TO RAMAIN A MAN AND IN GOOD HEALTH, DON'T YOU DARE CHANNEL THAT JACKASS KUN**__**Ō**__** ON ME! IF YOU DO, THE **_**CAT**_** GETS TO PLAY!**_"

Kazuo blinked, and then he tilted over in a dead faint. "BOSS!" Izumi yelled as she leapt over to his side to help him.

By then, Ranma had calmed down before she perked. "'Sempai' . . .?" she repeated before a smile then crossed her face. "Damn! I like that!"

And with that, she was back into the fray with Happōsai! "Here we go again," Kanami then muttered as she rolled her eyes up to the evening sky.

Nodoka gazed on her. "What do you mean, my daughter?"

"The whole karma/chaos curse that Hiibā-chan and Jijii think Oyaji - in his own lazy way - inadvertently cast upon us, Kā-chan," Ranma's twin explained before she shrugged as she gave her girlfriend a knowing look. "Hell, next thing that might happen to us is that we might be dealing with more folks from China . . . "

"Or another dimension," Ataru's twin then mused.

"What?"

People turned as some of the _Program_ survivors came up to join them. "You mean you guys _**haven't**_ faced off against Herb or Saffron?" Kasai Osamu - who, despite once being a member of his school's literature club, did read a lot of manga - asked.

"Who?" Miiko, Kanami and Kikuko asked.

"The leader of the Musk and the prince of the Phoenix people?" he explained.

"Who are they?" Kanami wondered.

"Oh, I remember!"

Eyes locked on Kikuko. "The Musk - or Màshǐké as they're properly addressed as - are a neighbouring tribe of the Nǚjiézú. They like using the Niángnìquán spring all the time to transform strong animals into human girls so they can marry them and have kids with them." As Nodoka looked disgusted, Kanami blinked in confusion and Miiko began nodding as she herself recalled about that tribe, the girl whose spirit actually arose from that particular pond in Zhòuquán-xiāng added, "And I think the Phoenix people might be that tribe of winged humanoids that lives on a mountain near Zhòuquán-xiāng . . . but I can't recall exactly where. Maybe Hiibā-chan knows . . . "

Kanami sighed after considering that. "Like I said, here we go again . . .!"

_**The End . . . Maybe!**_

* * *

_**OMAKE NOTE:**__ Just a little spruce-up from what Vanipon used in his first draft, plus bringing in other characters to match what was being said here._


	31. Omake: It Doesn't Seem Right Without

_**Avalonians and Questors**_  
**Omake - **_**It Doesn't Seem Right Without . . .!**_  
by Vanipon (with corrections and scene additions by P'yeknu)

* * *

"Captain?"

The captain perked, and then turned to see a calm-looking woman appearing to be in her early thirties, with black hair possessing an odd blue sheen dependant on how the light shone on it, said hair combed over her right eye in a very rakish, almost piratical style. "Commander Tanzer," he said. "Is everything on my ship ready to go?"

"We're doing final systems checks now," Yolanda Tanzer - she, much to both Jim Kirk's and Montgomery Scott's delight, was the granddaughter of Lieutenant-Commander Harb Tanzer, whom had served with them years ago as the original _Enterprise_'s Chief of Recreation - then stated as they moved to take their seats. Like all the others on the ship now, she had on the _Haida_'s crest over her nametag. "Even though our main helm officer still hasn't arrived, she's coming from the U.S.S. _Yamato_ . . . "

"Which ship is that one?" Kirk asked.

"Registry code NCC-71807-A. She's an Akira-class," Tanzer answered, and then she checked her dataPADD. "Her name is . . . Rei Sulu Ishikawa."

Kirk perked. "'Sulu?'"

A nod. "Yes. According to the private note that was attached to the transfer orders by President Sulu himself, Lieutenant Ishikawa is a cousin of Keiko O'Brian - her husband Miles used to work on the _Enterprise_-D as a transporter chief; he's now the operations chief at Deep Space Nine - and she's also the great-granddaughter of the President himself." She tried not to giggle on seeing the Spock-like arched eyebrow rising up on her captain's forehead. "Also - according to this - her grandmother will be coming with Lieutenant Ishikawa for a visit. Mrs. Ishikawa also left you a message."

Kirk chuckled. "Demora! Hikaru's daughter is still alive? Well, that IS a nice surprise!" He then turned to her. "What was her message?"

"She said that she and her family feel there is a rather profound honour debt that needs to be paid, one incurred when she was the helm officer on the _Enterprise_-B." Here, Tanzer looked down at the PADD. "Her message is as follows: 'Since my father was your helm officer . . . and since you told me when my turn came to step in my father's shoes, _it wouldn't be the _Enterprise_ without a Sulu at the helm_, I say that no ship will truly be a ship captained by you without a Sulu as your helm officer.'"

He moaned. "Don't tell me . . . "

She chuckled. "Grandfather told me about this." Harb Tanzer was still alive, having retired finally from Starfleet in 2344, relocating to Centaurus. Kirk had learned that his former recreation chief had taken over the administration of the Garrovick Valley Memorial Park, the land of which had once been totally owned by Kirk and had been taken over by the planetary government in the wake of his "death" in 2293; the captain of the _Haida_ had a lawyer - a relative of Sam Cogley's - now negotiating with the Centaurian government to get ownership of his cabin on the shores of the Farragut River back so he could have his once-planned retirement home back. "He said that Mrs. Ishikawa's been beating herself over and over with guilt for not being faster with the controls and doing more to avoid you 'death.' The Starfleet grapevine says that when she read the news about your return, she literally pulled rank and took control of the _Yamato_ to get her and her granddaughter over to us." Tanzer then smiled, her dark blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "Well, they should be here shortly. We should still have time for some in-system manoeuvres before we have to attend _Bozeman_'s mixer. I've already got Counsellor Franklin working on preparing our own mixer before we start warp trials."

Kirk nodded, and then he sighed as he gazed at the front view screen. "I saw a proposal you put in for one of the ship's trials: Actually trying to replicate our namesake's accident a year ago and head into their universe for a reciprocal visit."

"It would be an excellent show of the ship's systems," she noted. "We ARE the first starship to be fitted with tachytron energy inductors in the warp drive."

"I'll think about it," he promised her.

"Understood . . . "

As she returned to her seat to continue preparations, Kirk exchanged a knowing look with Scott - who was still busy at the ship's systems monitoring station - and then he turned to gaze at the view screen, now showing the _Enterprise_ and the _Bozeman_ floating side-by-side in a parking orbit near the main entrance gates into Starbase 12. "How are things coming, Scotty?" he then asked as he looked back at his chief engineer.

"Aye, she's comin' along fine, sir," the native of Linlithgow said with a grin. "Them shipwrights in Port Weller; they did a beautiful job when they built the wee lass. I think we'll be changing the number on her sooner than planned."

Kirk chuckled; only when all the systems on _Haida_ were tested and proven to be useful for other Starfleet ships would her "NX" designation be properly changed to the standard "NCC" code and sisterships would be constructed. "Well, let's hope we don't get a repeat performance of what happened when we took _Enterprise_ out after we rebuilt her to go deal with V'Ger," he noted . . . before his eyes widened.

Scott quickly noted that look. "Sir?"

The captain grimaced. "On second thought, I might want to call Spock."

"Why?"

"No offense to Major Mason, but I believe it'd be a smart idea to have a Vulcan on the bridge," Kirk advised, lowering his voice. "Just in case . . . "

Scott considered that, and then he nodded. He remembered the first time the refitted _Enterprise_ had attempted a warp jump . . . and how Spock's timely arrival right after that made sure the ship could intercept V'Ger well before the transformed and fully sentient NASA probe could reach its final destination. "Aye, sir," he said, speaking in a low tone. "Wonder if Mister Spock has a relative who's in the service."

"Find out."

"Aye, sir!"

Kirk nodded, and then he perked again. "Scotty?"

"Aye, sir?"

"Call Bones, too."

Scott perked. "Why, sir?"

"When Jean-Luc's crew found you and you got your commission reactivated to join John Harriman's team, did you ever find out if Joanna's still alive?"

The engineer grinned. "Aye, sir! She married Peter Siderakis; ye'll remember him from what happened in New Athens when that bloody mini-black hole ripped through the ship's computer!" As Kirk nodded - the destruction of New Athens by a racist human-centric terrorist group had been one of the sadder and more hectic missions the _Enterprise_ had faced back in 2269 - Scott added, "They have a daughter, Connie; Connie Iziharry's her godmother!" As Kirk nodded - Constance Iziharry had been one of the crewmembers from Centaurus who had taken leave from the service in the wake of the New Athens tragedy - Scott blinked as something came to him, and then he smiled. "And I know that Connie Siderakis is in the service right now, Captain! As a _doctor_!"

"Get her!" Kirk ordered.

"Aye, sir! Would you want me to contact Nyota and Pavel, too?"

"Do it!"

"Aye, sir!"

_**The End**_

* * *

_**OMAKE NOTES:**__ Not much in the way of changes here, but there were additions made that I added to parallel what Vanipon wrote__._

_This omake - and the epilogue surrounding the commissioning of the new _Bozeman_ and _Haida_ - makes mention of a character that has appeared in several of the Pocket Books _Star Trek_ novels: Harb Tanzer, who appeared in books written by Diane Duane such as _The Wounded Sky_, _Spock's World_, _Rules of Engagement _and the very beautiful five-book _Rihannsu_ series, whose themes I used when I wrote the main story. It's rather a pity that someone like Tanzer never appeared in the original television series or the movies; he would have made a sort of grandfatherly figure - a "senior centurion"-like person as Commander-General Ael t'Rllaillieu thought of him in _My Enemy, My Ally_ - in comparison to the rest of the quite-young ship's company._

_This story also makes reference to events in the novel _Crisis on Centaurus_ by Brad Ferguson, which portrayed a very beautiful story explaining how Jim Kirk first met Leonard McCoy (hence the reference to Joanna McCoy, who was portrayed in the novel as studying in medical school on Centaurus when a deliberate anti-matter explosion was triggered at the planetary capital's main space port at New Athens). It also revealed that Kirk possessed a sort of "country cabin" on Centaurus, one which he planned to have as a retirement home (which was different than his mountain cabin in Idaho that was mentioned in _Generations_); I decided to make mention of that here as well._

_I would definitely recommend Mr. Ferguson's novel as well as all Ms. Duane's novels if you can find them on-line or at second-hand book stores; they are all excellent reads!_


	32. Omake: Special Gifts

_**Avalonians and Questors**_  
**Omake - **_**Special Gifts**_  
by P'yeknu (inspired by an omake written by Vanipon)

* * *

Planet Mudd (UFC catalogue designation 257704-II), Stardate 48912.3 . . .

"You're serious!"

"Very."

"Jim's ALIVE?"

"Yes."

Sitting at her work table, Lauren Kolby could only gape as she took a moment to process what Nyota Uhura had told her. "Oh, my God . . . " the Terran-form Questor daughter of Roger Korby and Christine Chapel breathed out as she considered what her godmother had told her. "So the whole story about the Nexus being some sort of weird time-space warp is true? That if you end up inside it . . .?"

"You literally experience a state of pure joy, never wanting to leave such a place," Uhura finished for her host. "Fortunately, he wasn't there - in his time-line - long enough for the effects of the place to fully take hold before Jean-Luc Picard and those volunteers from _Haida_ got him out. You read about that, didn't you?"

The scientist - she was technically a reserve commodore in Starfleet, having been trained as a scientist and having served as a science officer on a half-dozen starships before leaving full-time service to work with the androids of Mudd as they sought to improve themselves, much like the famous "son" of Noonien Soong did - nodded. "Incredible. A race of artificially-grown, fully-organic humanoids that could be designed and sculpted to match any of the iron blood-based races of that universe. They can mate with any compatible race, pass on their own powers to their children and are now actually boosting the development of that other Earth in the early Twenty-first Century to levels even WE haven't achieved in this day and age! I'm surprised all the people who constantly keep an eye out for colonies of Augments or their like didn't start screaming bloody murder when news of these Avalonians got out."

"At least _this_ time, the Prime Directive proved to be useful," the intelligence officer stated. "Besides, from what I sensed of those girls on _Haida_, they're just so eager to help out on that other Earth that even the most religiously conservative elements there welcomed them with open arms. Amazing, isn't it?"

Both women laughed, and then Korby gave her a knowing look. "What do you want, Aunt Nyota? You wouldn't come all the way HERE - and in total secret; Data passed that on to me when he introduced his daughter to me! - without a reason."

"Project: Aruhu."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

"You're kidding me!" Korby gasped, her pale blue-grey eyes - save for the eyes and the dark brown hair inherited from her genetic father, she was a dead ringer for Christine Chapel when she served as a nursing officer aboard the original _Enterprise_ during her first five-year mission with Jim Kirk as captain - widening. "Why?"

A sigh. "He's alone, Laurie," Uhura explained. "He's not showing it now - he's just happy to be in the centre chair of his ship again - but it'll hit him soon."

"Survivor's guilt, you mean."

"A form of it," Uhura stated. "He's like Scotty was when he got pulled out of the _Jenolan_ by the crew of the _Enterprise_-D two years ago. Not to mention Morgan Bateson and his whole crew when the _Bozeman_ was found in the Typhon Expanse the year before. Lost and alone in a world he doesn't recognise." A sigh. "Starfleet wants to have him around as a line captain, especially now with the whole matter of the Dominion heating up like it is, but they don't understand that it takes a lot more than just refresher training to bring back a formerly retired officer into the service . . . "

"But at least with Bateson and his crew, they had each other to fall back onto for moral support," Korby finished. "Scotty never got that chance, at least from what everyone's told me." She paused as she considered that for a moment, and then she gazed on the admiral. "Chances are good that wherever Jim goes, Scotty will be there with him all the way." A sigh. "And with Uncle Spock on Romulus, Uncle Leonard, Uncle Hikaru and Uncle Pavel all retired, plus you in Intelligence . . . "

"We're already working to make some arrangements."

"How so?"

"Hikaru's arranging to have his great-granddaughter Rei Ishikawa assigned as a flight controller for the new ship they're building to give Jim now that there'll be an _Enterprise_-E commissioned for Jean-Luc and his crew." The announcement of the final decommissioning of the _Enterprise_-D as a constructive battle loss had been made a month before. That had been followed by the announcement that the fourth of the Sovereign-class ships to be constructed would be the new _Enterprise_. And while the planned new class of escort cruisers had yet to be named, there were rumours that the names of a famous class of Terran wet-navy destroyers from the Twentieth Century might finally be honoured with namesakes in Starfleet. "I think Leonard could talk his granddaughter Connie Siderakis into asking for reassignment to Jim's new ship as her CMO. None of Pavel's and Tamoon's children or grandchildren are serving in Starfleet, but Shahna's daughter Narey is in the service; she's a tactical officer on the _Ark Royal_ right now. As for Spock and Saavik, they're looking into things, but it might be a while before they could find someone who could serve as a science officer on Jim's new ship. That leaves me."

"How would you want your 'daughter' to be?" Korby then asked. "Questor?"

A hum, and then she shook her head. "Lord knows, I've refused a dozen offers to Cross Into the Fold from people like Shyrae and Dujduy in the past. It'll be odd to actually get myself a Questor 'daughter' like Jim has in Carol now." She then gazed on her host. "Laurie, do the androids here still have the biometric data they took from me when Norman brought the _Enterprise_ here back in 2268?"

The scientist hummed . . .

* * *

Earth Spacedock, Stardate 50411.1 . . .

"Excuse me? Lieutenant Narey?"

The silver-haired, grey-eyed and quite well-formed human female in the uniform of a lieutenant in the command department perked on hearing that voice call out to her, and then she turned as a dark-skinned woman in the uniform of an operations officer, an ensign's single pip on her jacket epaulettes and her undershirt collar, standing there. "Yes?" she rose as the younger woman came up to her. "Can I help you?"

A smile. "Ensign Samara Uhura, ma'am," she said as she offered her hand.

Narey blinked, and then she grinned. "The android replica of Aunt Nyota," she said as she took the hand and gave it a firm shake, quickly sensing the ensign's considerable strength in the grip. "So they finally activated and programmed you."

"On Stardate 49003.4 on planet Mudd. I'm a 'direct entry' officer since I was programmed with all of Mother's memories before I was activated," Samara said as they moved to take their seats in a lounge overlooking the large manoeuvring basin where ships coming in and out of this massive maintenance facility over North America would dock. "I take it you're being assigned to Uncle Jim's new ship."

"Yes," the daughter of one of the former fighting thralls of Triskelion answered, a grin crossing her face. Despite her still-youthful looks, Narey was well into her seventh decade; the Providers of that planet had, in the wake of Jim Kirk's persuading them to fully emancipate their warriors, given the surviving thralls some excellent genetic enhancements that had ultimately extended their life spans to roughly Vulcan-like norms. "As soon as Uncle Pavel contacted Mother about getting people related to those Uncle Jim once served with - or those he had encountered when he commanded the old _Enterprise_ - onto the crew of his new ship, Mother practically ORDERED me to put in for a transfer!" As both women laughed, Narey sighed. "If the chance comes, I might be able to persuade Uncle Jim to consider going to Triskelion and meet up with Mother again. It hurt her when she had heard he 'died.'"

"As it did a lot of other people," Samara lamented, and then she gave the lieutenant a knowing look. "Trying to find a mother for Carol?"

"Would you blame me?" Narey asked, a touch of reverence in her voice as she added in a whisper, "The Providers have known about the Questors for millennia. I would be honoured to consider the Lady Carol a sister."

The android - _Or shouldn't that be 'gynoid?'_ the Triskelite battle thrall's child mused as she took in Samara's exceptional looks - considered that, and then she nodded. "It would be logical in the long term, especially for Uncle Jim's mental health. Of all the women - at least from what I absorbed when Mother's memories were programmed into me - that he met before he was trapped in the Nexus, your mother is one of the few still alive. AND still capable of giving him years of companionship."

Narey gave her a knowing look. "May I assume, Ensign, you will assist me in this matter?"

"I will make it one of my primary off-duty operational programs, Lieutenant," Samara promised.

Both gazed at each other, and then Narey laughed. "Oh, Providers! You're so human and yet . . .!" Her voice then faded before she shook her head. "You remind me so much of Commander Data! How are you - how are ALL your people - adjusting to operating with emotions?"

"Just as easily as the commander did after Miss Hakaru modified his father's emotion chip when the old _Enterprise_ encountered the _Haida_. Thanks very much to Commodore Korby." Narey was quick to see a little sparkle of energy in Samara's eyes that quickly informed her that the ensign was well aware of what the new ship to be commanded by Jim Kirk would be named.

"What about Data's daughter Lal? Is she still on Mudd?"

"Of course!" Samara snapped. "There's just NO WAY that the commander is going to let his only daughter get anywhere close to the Daystrom Institute, especially after the people there tried to practically KIDNAP the poor girl after she was activated!"

"I bet Maddox didn't like that!"

"Actually, the commander was all _for_ it, Lieutenant."

Narey perked, and then she turned to see a silver-haired woman with dark eyes that seemed older than Time Itself; in fact, she would swear this woman was a relation of Master Thrall Galt! She was dressed in a Starfleet uniform with the new-style black jackets, the blue trim and piping indicative of a science department officer. Commander's pips were on her shirt and epaulettes. Her name - **M.E. TANZER** - was stitched on the nametag over her right breast. Staring at her - Narey knew that the soon-to-be commissioned _Haida_'s executive officer was a Yolanda Tanzer, the granddaughter of the old _Enterprise_'s chief of recreation - she blinked before her mind picked up on a familiar feeling emanating from the other woman, one which made the Triskelite nearly drop to her knees in awe. "Oh, Eternal One . . . "

"Lieutenant!" the newcomer snapped, her voice low yet full of command.

Narey jerked, and then she blinked as she remembered what she had been told when it came to encountering a Questor in a public situation. "Apologies, Commander."

"Keep it in mind until we're aboard our new ship," the other woman said before she gazed fondly on Samara, who was staring in curiosity at her. "I'm Commander Moira Tanzer, Ensign Uhura. You may know of me from the original _Enterprise_," she said, keeping her voice down as there were people close by and Questors never took risks when encountering people they were not sure of when it came to revealing THAT secret.

Samara blinked, and then her eyes widened. "You were . . .!"

A nod. "The captain arranged it for me before _Enterprise_ was decommissioned on Stardate 8144.0," Moira explained before she nodded towards a door, a kind smile - a smile that made Samara recall all of her mother's memories of Harb Tanzer - then crossing her face. "C'mon. The _Skeena_'s ready in Bay Six. I've reserved it to take us out to our new ship. I'll explain everything on the way to Starbase 12."

Both women nodded as they moved to follow her out of the lounge . . .

* * *

U.S.S. _Haida_, sometime later . . .

"Captain?"

Jim Kirk looked over to the ship's systems monitoring station. The newly-commissioned escort cruiser was now doing an in-system circling around the red dwarf star that the planet and Starbase 12 orbited. "What is it, Scotty?"

"Just got a message from the runabout _Skeena_," Montgomery Scott said as he gave his captain a knowing look and a smirk. "They're on their way here deliverin' three officers that'll be joinin' us." At Kirk's questioning look, he added, "Ensign Samara Uhura, a Lieutenant Narey - she's Shahna's wee one - and Commander Moira Tanzer."

A shocked gasp. "_**GRANDAUNT MOIRA?**_"

Both of them turned to gaze at a white-faced Yolanda Tanzer. "Is there a problem, Commander Tanzer?" Kirk then asked.

The executive officer looked nervous as she shyly looked away from the captain's eyes. "Sir, is it too late to ask for a transfer?" she eeped.

Kirk and Scott blinked . . .

_**The End . . . For Now!**_

* * *

_**OMAKE NOTES:**__ Came up with this one on my own after receiving Vanipon's second omake (the one that got titled _It Doesn't Seem Right Without . . .!_)._

_Now, the explanations:_

_**Samara** (a Hebrew name meaning "guardian" or "protected by God") was a name postulated as Nyota Uhura's given name in the FASA role-playing game based on _Star Trek_ that was released between 1982-1989._

_**Aruhu** ("Uhura" spelt backwards) was a model of Mudd-type androids that appeared in the Bantam Books novel compilation _Mudd's Angels_ by Judith Ann Lawrence (which itself was based on two novelizations of the episodes "Mudd's Women" and "I, Mudd" written by Mrs. Lawrence's husband, the late James Blish . . . with a follow-on story, "The Business, as Usual, During Altercations," written by Mrs. Lawrence herself), first released in 1978. People will recall a scene from "I, Mudd" where Uhura was enchanted by one of the female androids by the possibility of being transformed into an android. In this storyline, the biometrics scan of Nyota Uhura were retained in the master computer, but not turned into a living android until Nyota herself requested it to Lauren Korby._

_**Lauren Korby**, as explained in the main story of _Avalonians and Questors_, is the Questor daughter of the late Roger Korby (who appeared in the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?") and _Enterprise_'s chief nurse Christine Chapel._

_**Narey** is the daughter of Shahna, the humanoid thrall who appeared in the epsiode "The Gamesters of Triskelion." Pavel Chekov's wife, Tamoon, was another battle thrall. As Shahna was one of many women who had become quite attracted to Kirk while he was still young and single, it made sense that as she was growing up, her daughter would be filled with flattering tales about the man. As noted in the _Deep Space Nine _episodes "Necessary Evil" and "Resurrection," Triskelion does interact with both Cardassia Prime and Bajor, so it seems logical that Narey would seek out a career in Starfleet. And given that she is the daughter of a battle thrall, she would be well versed in all forms of armed and unarmed combat._

_And **Moira** is a character from Diane Duane's Pocket Books _Star Trek_ novels; she would especially play a prominent background role in _Spock's World_. She began life as the _Enterprise_'s gaming computer for the ship's recreation department, but as time went on, Harb Tanzer got Spock's help to improve the flexibility of her programming. The two went way too far . . . and Moira effectively "woke up" to become a sentient being in her own right. I postulate here that in the wake of the original _Enterprise_'s decommissioning at the beginning of _Star Trek III - The Search for Spock_, Kirk arranged to have Moira's consciousness/soul downloaded into a Terran-form Questor body modelled genetically after Harb Tanzer, thus giving him a sister. Her full name is _**Moira Empresa Tanzer**_; look for the middle name in Wiktionary and you'll understand what it means._


	33. Omake: Special Gifts II

_**Avalonians and Questors**_  
**Omake - **_**Special Gifts II**_  
by P'yeknu (inspired by an omake written by Vanipon)

* * *

U.S.S. _Bozeman_, the night of her commissioning . . .

"You are KIDDING me!"

Jim Kirk chuckled. "I'm serious! The instant she heard Moira was coming aboard, Yolanda immediately asked for a transfer off the ship!"

The command teams of three starships all gaped or looked surprised at that revelation. "Why would she do that?" Deanna Troi asked.

"It's a personal thing, Deanna," Shanna Franklin, _Haida_'s counsellor, explained.

The others nodded as Kirk gazed on the young red-haired, chestnut-eyed Phaëton. Like many of her race that possessed the highest levels of telepathy, she was a fully-trained healer who had learned her trade at the Vulcan Science Academy under the tutelage of one of the men who had made Spock's life possible, Healer Sorel; Franklin was the elder healer's last student before he retired from full service twenty years before. "Hopefully, it won't interfere in your ship's operations, Jim," Jean-Luc Picard stated. "What exactly will Moira do aboard the _Haida_?"

"Testing out all the scientific applications of all the systems we copied from our friends in the Earth Defence Force when their _Haida_ came into our universe," Kirk answered. "Including things like interdimensional warps and the like."

"Try to replicate the accident which brought that _Haida_ to us, you mean."

"A possibility, but given what's happening out by Bajor now . . . "

The others at the table all nodded, and then Troi and Franklin both perked before a delighted cry of "_**JIM!**_" echoed through the Goat Locker (which was the name of _Bozeman_'s primary lounge; on _Enterprise_, it was called "Ten-Forward" as it had been done on the previous ship). Hearing that delighted voice, Jim turned . . .

. . . and gasped in shock as a lithe woman with long, flowing silver-grey hair nearly knocked him over with a flying tackle hug that caused all the other people present to step back in fear of the safety of their drinks. "Moira . . . OOOF!" Kirk gasped as Moira Tanzer nearly crushed him with her hug, and then his voice was taken away when she turned around delivered a wet kiss to her lips. "Moira . . . "

The others at the table all laughed on seeing that, though Deanna was quick to notice a shuddering Yolanda Tanzer standing nearby, her eyes sullen with pain. Taking a moment to concentrate her empathy on her, _Enterprise_'s counsellor then blinked.

_Oh, my . . .!_

* * *

U.S.S. _Enterprise_, an hour later . . .

"She's SEXUALLY attracted to her own GRANDAUNT?"

Shanna Franklin nodded as she sat down across from Troi. The counsellor's office had been locked down when her counterpart from _Haida_ came aboard for a "private peer consultation," which was allowed within the ethics of their practice as long as things covered under normal healer-patient confidentiality were kept secret from prying ears. "Yolanda's always had trouble accepting Moira as just her grand-aunt, Deanna," the Phaëton telepath stated. "Her grandfather was quite honest with her about Moira's origins as soon as Yolanda became old enough to understand it all. But unlike others let into that particular secret, she doesn't see Moira as Harb's adopted sister."

"But as a potential mate," the part-Betazoid empath finished for her friend.

A nod. "When she got into her teen years, she tried everything she could to make Moira see her as more than just her brother's granddaughter," Franklin said. "It never worked. Eventually, Yolanda realised that Moira wasn't going to respond to it. She came to resent - even hate - Moira as a result." A sigh. "These days, she doesn't openly hate Moira . . . but it hurts her none the less to be close to her."

"I see," Troi breathed out. "Did you explain this to Captain Kirk?"

"He knows," Franklin affirmed. "He thinks that it won't really affect Yolanda's performance as his executive officer . . . but he won't hesitate to have her posted off the ship if he feels it necessary. He learned long ago how to compartment his personal feelings for female acquaintances and keep it away from the business of being a starship captain. In fact, his loyalty to his ship happened to save him a couple of times during his first five-year mission on the old _Enterprise_." She then shrugged. "While I hope he'll stay that way in command of _Haida_, it might be hard for him."

Troi considered that, and then she nodded. "Given that Moira Tanzer is - in a sense of the term - the last living part of the first _Enterprise_ herself."

"Exactly. I haven't had the chance to analyse her yet, but I think there will be some strong bonds of loyalty Moira will feel for the captain."

Troi nodded. When she was fully let into the secret of the Questors, she took every chance she could to fully analyse those enigmatic beings and how they had come to affect the lives of ordinary people across the Federation and beyond. When she read about Moira Tanzer - the only Questor to have been literally born from a _starship computer program_ of all things! - she had been struck by all the similarities between the veteran warp metaphysics researcher and the holographic entity created in the image of Professor James Moriarty that had first appeared in a Sherlock Holmes program Geordi La Forge had prepared to stump Data with back in 2365. Thinking about Moriarty, Troi then hummed, which made Franklin look at her. "What's wrong, Deanna?"

"I just remembered something about a holographic personality that acquired a form of sentience aboard the old _Enterprise_ about eight years ago, the second year of our mission," Troi explained. At Franklin's nod of understanding, she added, "When I recalled all I had read about Commander Tanzer, I thought about Professor Moriarty. Just a minute." She tapped a control on her desk. "Troi to Data."

"Data here."

"Data, sorry to bother you, but whatever happened to Professor Moriarty and Countess Bartholomew? Did we ever salvage that memory module we put them into?"

"Affirmative, Counsellor. After we returned to Earth on the _Enterprise_-A, I took Lal to planet Mudd to meet Doctor Lauren Korby so she could apprentice under both her and Administrator Norman for the foreseeable future." On hearing that, Troi nodded; like many who had interacted with Lal, she was more than pleased that Data had done all he could keep his child clear of the Daystrom Institute . . . and actually had been quite surprised when Commander Bruce Maddox had given his full support to such a placement given what Vice Admiral Anthony Haftel had tried to do during Lal's first brief time of life before her fatal cascade failure. "I had the memory module with me - I had salvaged it from the _Enterprise_-D before we departed Starbase 105 - at that time so that she could analyse it and find some way to allow both the professor and his companion the chance to actually live their own lives as corporeal beings."

"What happened to them?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot answer that question as Lauren placed full security protocols over the whole situation concerning the professor and the countess. However, I do believe Moira could explain more about what happened to them if you ask her."

Troi perked. "You're friends with her."

She could almost _feel_ the smile on the android's face as he stated, "Deanna, please recall that we do share quite similar origins."

A laugh. "Good point!"

* * *

U.S.S. _Haida_ . . .

"It's hard, isn't it?"

Yolanda Tanzer jolted on hearing that voice, and then she sighed. "I can't turn these sorts of feelings off when it comes to her, Jim."

Jim Kirk smiled as he sat down across from her in the cruiser's main lounge. Located at the forward end of the ship on Deck Ten - which had struck the veteran captain as quite odd given that both _Enterprise_ and _Bozeman_ had their main lounges in the same location on the same deck - the space was now almost empty, so the two senior officers could have a relatively private conversation. "I don't blame you," he admitted. "In a way, I've always felt the same when it came to Moira."

Tanzer blinked. "Why?"

A sigh. "You'll probably experience this when you become a captain yourself, Yolanda," Kirk explained. "When I commanded the original _Enterprise_, I was so enthralled by her that in all the times I encountered someone who might have pulled me away from that chair on that bridge, I could always mentally grasp onto it to keep me centred and balanced on the mission." He closed his eyes. "When Harry Morrow announced in the torpedo bay that she was going to be finally retired, it felt like a knife had been driven into my heart. And then I remembered Moira."

"That's when you got her out of the ship and into human form," she finished. "I've been always grateful to you for doing that, Jim. She's . . .!"

"Exceptional, isn't she?"

A nod. "Yeah." She then sighed. "Do you love her?"

A shake of the head. "Ultimately, I couldn't."

She gaped. "Why not?"

"She's a Questor," Kirk explained. "That's their curse, Yolanda."

The executive officer looked confused. "I don't understand."

"Eternally young, exceptionally beautiful . . . and forced to remain that way while all their friends grow old and die around them. Even long-lived friends such as El-Aurians," Kirk stated. "I think the ONLY way Moira could have accepted you as a lover . . . is if you actually BECAME like her. Would you be willing to do that?"

Tanzer blinked, and then she breathed out. "Oh, my God . . .!"

"It's a hard thing to accept about them. And a hard thing for them to accept about us," the captain explained. "If you're willing to take that plunge, Yolanda, I hope it works out for you. But think really hard before you make that decision." He stood up, reaching over to pat her shoulders. "Try to keep in mind, okay?"

She blinked, and then she nodded . . .

* * *

A buzzer sounded off. "Come in!"

The door swooped open to reveal Yolanda Tanzer. "Hi."

Moira Tanzer looked over from her desk, and then she sighed. "You okay?"

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

The younger woman chronologically - in physical looks, both appeared to be about the same age - stepped into the room, allowing the door to swoosh closed behind her. Slowly dropping into the chair in front of her grandaunt's desk, the executive officer took a deep breath. "It still hurts. But I'm glad you're here."

Moira perked, and then she smiled. "Jim talked to you, didn't he?"

A nod. "Do you care for him?"

"The man who literally saved me from the scrap yard? To literally say anything of being burned-up fragments of computer chips in the atmosphere of a planet that was about to explode because of a faulty genesis device?" the Questor then quipped before she gave her grandniece a knowing look. "Yes, I do care for him, Lannie," she said, making Yolanda blush on hearing her address the younger woman by her childhood nickname. "But I can never love him. Not as a potential wife. Just as I couldn't love you like that." Moira gave her a knowing look. "And I hope to all that is holy in this universe that you are NOT considering making THAT choice, Lannie. You DON'T want to be like me!"

Yolanda looked stricken. "Why not?"

A sigh. "Do you know what it's like? To be practically all but immortal . . . and forced to watch all you care for grow old and die before your eyes?" Moira asked. "Your grandfather, your grandmother, your parents, you . . . " A shake of the head. "Much that I can understand why people would be willing to allow love to drive that sort of decision, I don't want to force you to experience the pain that comes with my type of existence, Lannie." She took a deep breath. "Please . . . for your sake most of all, don't do it, alright. This is my existence. I don't want it to be yours."

"I still love you . . . "

"And I will always love you." A sigh. "Look, I know we have to talk about this, but I have to help Sharok get the science department on this ship fully going before we can hope to take her out on warp trials. We'll talk about it later, okay?"

Yolanda blinked, and then she nodded. "Yeah . . . "

* * *

A moment later, the executive officer walked out of her grandaunt's quarters to find a concerned-looking Shanna Franklin standing there. Noting the look on the counsellor's face, Yolanda took a deep breath before she walked over to stand before her. "Could I arrange for an appointment sometime soon?" she asked.

"I'm always available," the Phaëton stated, nodding in understanding . . .

_**The End . . . For Now!**_

* * *

_**OMAKE NOTE:**__ A little more serious than before, but I felt it was necessary to show what could happen when you're confronted with such eternal beauty as what a Questor (or any other type of physically un__-__aging inducted sentient) could present._

_People should remember the holographic Professor James Moriarty and his companion, Countess Regina Bartholomew, from the _Next Generation_ episodes "Elementary, Dear Data" from the second season and "Ship In A Bottle" from the sixth season._


	34. Omake: Thunderbird & the Ship of Dreams

_**Avalonians and Questors**_  
**Omake – **_**The Thunderbird and the Ship of Dreams**_  
by Vanipon (with corrections by P'yeknu)

A sequel to the omake "_Titanic_ and The Space Iceberg" by Vanipon

* * *

Captain's Log, Stardate 50514.4,_  
After taking time to ponder over First Officer Yolanda Tanzer's proposal about doing an interdimensional warp to the universe of the United Nations Earth Defence Force - and after consulting with Commander Moira Tanzer about the potential dangers of such a manoeuvre - I have elected to attempt to penetrate the dimension veil so _Haida _and her crew may meet up with her counterparts from another universe and time._

* * *

U.S.S. _Haida_, approaching the Sol system . . .

"Miss Ishikawa, set course to slingshot around the Sun. Warp Nine."

At the ship's flight control station, Rei Ishikawa - who took very much after her grandmother Demora Sulu-Ishikawa . . . save for the dark red hair - smiled as she tapped controls on her screen. "Aye, sir. Course laid in for standard slingshot approach of the Sun; we will de-warp just beyond the orbital plane of Neptune."

In his chair, Jim Kirk nodded, and then he looked over his shoulder at the science station, which was currently being manned by both Moira Tanzer and a young Vulcan lieutenant-commander who reminded the veteran commander of the late Commander Sonak, who had died in a transporter accident aboard the refitted _Enterprise_ just before the V'Ger incident. "Mister Sharok, Miss Tanzer, have you determined how to exactly reach the dimension and time period of our friends from the Earth Defence Force?"

"Affirmative, Captain," Sharok stated. He was a relative of Spock's through Selek, a distant cousin of Sarek. Like many of the other bridge crew who had been assigned to _Haida_, he had gladly volunteered to serve under his relative's famous commander when he had been asked. "We will incorporate both the slingshot manoeuvre to take us back to the year 2010 - right after Christmas Day in that particular year for our counterparts there - and then phase in the tachytron inductors to create the necessary interdimensional rift to bring us right into their reality."

"The test probe we sent out shows that the planetary locations of the worlds around Sol in that universe at that time period are the same as they were in our universe, Jim," Moira added. "We'll be well clear of any planetary body and it appears that no ships either from Earth or Triton transit in that area."

The captain nodded, and then he looked to the ship's systems monitor station. "Ensign Uhura, sound yellow alert. Have all personnel on standby just in case we do run into something as soon as we cross the barrier in that universe."

"Aye, sir," Samara Uhura said before tapping a control on her board.

As the klaxons sounded in the background, Kirk then tapped his communications badge. "Kirk to Scott. Scotty, are you there?"

"Aye, sir!" the cheerful voice of Montgomery Scott called out from the main engine room. "I've already got the notice from Moira, Jim. Our wee lassie is showin' all the potential our old lasses had, even more! We should go through that time-warp like a shark swims in the ocean, then make the dimensional jump with nae problem at all! The lads and lasses at Port Weller did a beautiful job on her!"

Kirk laughed. "We'll tell them about that as soon as we get through the barrier and come back safe and sound, Scotty. Moira, time to commence the dimensional jump?"

"If all goes well, three minutes. We're heading around the Sun now!"

Everyone turned to watch as the speeding _Haida_ made her pass around the great primary of Earth's home solar system. "Controls on automatic, Captain!" Ishikawa called out as she watched the chronometer move back at a dizzying speed. "We'll hit breakaway in ten . . . nice . . . eight . . . seven . . . six . . . "

"A lot easier than it was on the _Bounty_," Kirk muttered aloud.

"Aye, it was!" Scott called up from the engine room.

" . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . NOW! Full reverse thrust!"

_Haida_ seemed to buck lightly as it broke clear of the temporal warp she had created in heading back almost four hundred years in time. Everyone grabbed onto something as the escort cruiser surged away from the Sun, heading directly away from Earth - and thus, any satellites which could spot her as in the history of the Federation's Earth, humanity was trying to stay clear of the steady decline in society that eventually led to the Optimum Movement and the Third World War - towards distant Neptune. "We're clear, Captain!" T'Thelaih Mason called over from the ship's tactical post. "Commencing full sensor sweep of the nearby area to locate any satellites or probes which might detect us. Ship now cruising at three-quarters impulse power."

"All decks report no damage, Captain," Uhura added.

"Everyone feels alright, sir," Shanna Franklin reported from her place to Kirk's left after the captain gave the telepathic counsellor a questioning look.

Kirk nodded. "Kirk to Siderakis. Bones, are you alright?"

"Have we finished rattling our brains out yet, Captain?" the annoyed voice of one Doctor (Lieutenant-Commander) Constance Siderakis demanded from Sick Bay.

"Not yet," the captain replied. "We still have to do the dimensional phase."

"Well, make it quick, Jim!" the middle-aged doctor who had inherited her crankiness from her maternal grandfather Leonard McCoy demanded.

Kirk chuckled. "Two minutes to dimensional phase, Jim," Moira announced.

"Maintain yellow alert," Yolanda ordered.

"Aye, Commander," Uhura called back.

"Ready to engage warp drive, sir!" Ishikawa stated.

"Ahead Warp Four, Lieutenant!"

"Aye, sir!"

And with that, _Haida_ plunged into hyperspace with a beautiful spray of Cherenkov radiation. As the stars seemed to start passing her, Moira began a countdown towards the point the tachytron inductors - located in the warp nacelles right behind the ship's Buzzard collectors - would be cut in to phase the ship out of her home dimension and into another. "Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . NOW!" the metaphysics researcher called out as she tapped controls.

And _Haida_ plunged out of her own reality . . .

. . . into something that was all too familiar to one James Tiberius Kirk.

"WORMHOLE!" Yolanda called out. "Cut back all engines!"

"Not yet!" Moira screamed back as the distortion effect in the warp bubble protecting _Haida_ began to be felt throughout the ship. "Another thirty seconds!"

"Captain! New contact, dead ahead!"

Kirk perked on hearing the call from the current operations manager, a tall and muscular Irish-Greek lieutenant with flaming red hair named Deidre Lyre, and then he gazed on the view screen before he cursed. "Asteroid!" he barked out.

"I see it!" Mason called out as she tapped controls on her weapons board. "Moving to lock quantum torpedoes on target, sir! Stand by!"

"It appears that the asteroid was thrust into the warp from the exit point, Captain," Sharok added. "Time to potential impact, forty seconds. I believe something phased the asteroid into the warp as it was forming." He blinked as a new reading came across his main monitor screen. "Sir, the asteroid is composed mostly of ice."

"We'll come out of warp in twenty seconds!" Moira called out.

"Time to potential impact, thirty seconds," Sharok reported.

"Ice?" Yolanda demanded. "Major Mason, where are those torpedoes?"

"We're loaded!" Mason called out.

"T'Thelaih, don't shoot until we break out of warp!" Kirk barked out.

"Aye, sir!"

"Ten seconds!" Moira called out.

"Time to potential impact, twenty seconds," Sharok added.

"Torpedoes locked on target!" Mason reported.

"Stand by!" Kirk called out, and then he called out. "Fire, Major!"

"Breaking warp!" Moira said as she tapped controls.

"Torpedoes away!" Mason called out . . .

. . . as _Haida_ seemed to heave under everyone's feet!

* * *

Aboard a certain starliner near Neptune . . .

As people on the upper observation deck watched as the starliner's small fleet of Space Dhow cargo shuttles moved around to try to pry off the huge space iceberg that had slammed into her main hull, a sudden explosion of light made people's eyes turn up as what seemed to be a warp in space opened, allowing a sleek silver-hulled ship to pass into real space, then come to a stop not so far aft of _Titanic_'s fantail.

"What the heck was THAT?" Mimura Shinji demanded.

"That looks like an Intrepid-class ship!"

Eyes locked on Etō Megumi. "You mean from _Star Trek - Voyager_?" Noda Satomi - who still felt a little intimidated by the hostile glare Shimizu Hirono was _still_ sending her way - then asked as she turned back to gaze on the just-arrived starship.

"Hai! But it seems a bit bigger . . . oh! It's moving around to come parallel to us!" Megumi then said. "Can someone get some binoculars?"

"Right here!"

She turned as a pair of binoculars was handed to her by Kawada Shōgo. "Arigatō, Shōgo-kun!" she said before turning to gaze through the lenses at the ship. "Okay, pendant number . . . wait a minute here! En-Ex-Six-Three-Two-One-Five?"

"That's an experimental designation, isn't it?" Minami Kaori asked.

"Yeah! And . . . oh, I can see the name!"

Silence.

"What?" Sōma Mitsuko demanded.

A stunned Megumi lowered her binoculars. "U.S.S. _Haida_ . . .?"

The others gaped as they stared at her. "Hey, check it out!" Nanahara Shūya then said, pointing. "Something hit her! Look at that!"

People turned to look . . .

. . . and then they all began sweating on seeing a mound of ice and dirt sticking out of the just-arrived starship's port warp nacelle.

* * *

_Haida_ . . .

"Damage report!" Kirk barked out.

"We were struck by debris from the asteroid on the port warp nacelle just as we came out of the warp, Captain," Uhura stated, and then she perked.

Eyes locked on the android. Like all of her kind, Samara Uhura had a necklace with a trapezoidal communicator pendant hanging around her neck. Unlike others from planet Mudd, no number was on the unit as Uhura was the only one of her particular model to have been built. It - Kirk had allowed the ensign the right to wear the pendant in the open around her shirt collar - was now flashing, indicating that she was receiving some sort of signal. Everyone who worked with Uhura knew that she had linked her communicator pendant - which, while she was on her home planet, would allow her to connect with the group consciousness of all the Mudd androids resident there - with the ship's communications systems, allowing her to instantly interpret any sort of message that was received by _Haida_. "What is it, Samara?" Ishikawa demanded.

Uhura blinked, and then she relaxed. "This is highly improbable . . . "

"What is improbable, Ensign?" Sharok asked.

"We're being signalled by a ship close to us, Lieutenant," the ensign stated. "Same standard frequencies as what the Earth Defence Force ships encountered by the Federation also make use of. It's a civilian starliner. They're reporting they received the same sort of damage we just received and wish to render assistance."

"Confirmed, Captain," Mason called out. "We have a ship off the port side, range 6,270 metres from us. Putting it on the main screen."

People turned to look . . .

"That's one BIG ship!" Lyre breathed out. "Looks familiar, too!"

"What do you think, Deidre?" Ishikawa asked.

After a minute, the operations officer then breathed out. "It's patterned after the old seaborne passenger liners that crossed the North Atlantic Ocean during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Rei," she explained. "Even has the specific colour scheme on those sensor vanes over the upper superstructure that would identify her as being part of a specific transport company. I've SEEN this before . . . "

"Wait!" Yolanda cut in, pointing at the screen. "Magnify the bow of the ship, Major Mason. I think they've got the name printed there."

"Aye, Commander," Mason said as she tapped controls.

The image changed to show a close-up of the bow . . .

. . . and then almost everyone on the bridge paled in shock.

"The _Titanic_?" Moira gasped for them all.

"Most intriguing," Sharok noted.

Yolanda looked at the Vulcan. "Can you scan the composition of whatever that is that's now impacted on the underside of her main hull, Mister Sharok?"

"One moment, Commander," he replied as he tapped controls, and then he paused as he gazed on the results before his eyebrow arched. "Fascinating."

"Let me guess," Kirk said as he looked over his shoulder. "Ice?"

"Eighty-three-point-seven percent ice, Captain," Sharok stated, nodding.

The captain moaned. _Hiromi! Who thought up _this_ crazy idea . . .?_

* * *

Meanwhile, aboard another ship named _Haida_ . . .

"_**AH-CHOO!**_"

* * *

In U.S.S. _Haida_'s main engineering room . . .

"It's not that bad, Captain! We've already got the plasma intakes blocked off and we're synthesizing the parts to replace the damaged sections right now."

"Thank ye, lassie," Scott said as he nodded to the granddaughter of one of his old shipmates from the U.S.S. _Gagarin_ who later came to work with him aboard the original _Enterprise_, ship's deputy engineering chief Lieutenant-Commander Alexandra MacPherson. "Get on it right away." He tapped his communications badge as he looked up the _Haida_'s warp core. "Scott to Kirk. Are ye there, sir?"

"Kirk here."

"Dinnae worry about whatever we just hit, Captain," the engineering captain said. "It's nothin' we cannae deal with. We'll be warp capable within an hour!"

A sigh. "Scotty, we have something else to worry about."

The native of Linlithgow perked. "What is it, sir?"

"The same thing that hit us - an actual _space iceberg_, believe it or not! - has also hit another ship native to this dimension," Kirk stated.

Scott winced. "What ship, sir?"

A sigh. "You better come on up here and see her for yourself, Scotty. You won't believe another word I tell you until you see it with your own eyes."

The engineer snorted, trying to bite back laughter. "Jim, after all we've been through, there are VERY few things that could surprise me these days!"

"Even if I told you we just encountered a starship version of the _TITANIC_?"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then . . .

A white-faced Scott blinked before he walked over to the main monitor station, and then tapped controls to link the screen there to the main view screen on the bridge. Taking a moment to gape at the sight of the black-white-and-White Star tan starliner with a rather BIG iceberg slammed into her starboard bow - and then blinking a couple times on seeing her name in gold letters at the fore and aft ends of the main hull - he then headed over to his personal office, reaching into one of the drawers of his desk to pull out the bottle that was there. "Alexa, lassie! Do ye have a tricorder with ye?" he barked out.

MacPherson came into his office, the device in question in hand. "What is it, Captain?" she asked as she handed the tricorder over to him.

He nodded thanks, and then scanned the bottle's contents. "Note tae self," he muttered. "Check the bloody synthesizer systems, not to mention all the programs to make synthehol drinks in the Crow's Nest." The Crow's Nest - named in tribute to the officer's club that was in the Newfoundland city of Saint John's which had catered to thirsty Allied escort ship officers during the Second World War - was _Haida_'s main lounge. "Damn! It's the bloody real stuff!" he breathed out, shaking his head.

"Are you alright, sir?" MacPherson asked.

"Kirk to Scott! Scotty, are you still there?"

Scott sighed as he put the bottle down, and then he tapped his communications badge. "Aye, sir, I'm still here," he called up. "I'll be checkin' the drinks synthesizers later on; it's putting out the real drinks. Let me get to work on the mess down here!"

* * *

The bridge . . .

"Understood," Kirk said as he shook his head. "Kirk to Siderakis."

"Siderakis here. What the HELL just hit us?"

"Never mind, Bones! Any casualties?"

"Other than a few bumps and bruises, nothing at all, Jim," Connie Siderakis called back. "Why do you ask? And what on Earth did we run into?"

"An honest-to-goodness space iceberg, believe it or not," the captain replied. "But we're not the only one that ran into one of those things, Connie."

"I'm afraid to ask, Jim . . . "

"There's a starliner that got hit with one, too."

A snort. "The _Titanic_, no doubt."

Kirk blinked. "How did you guess?"

Silence.

"That was a JOKE, I hope!" Siderakis demanded.

"No joke, Connie," Moira reported, shaking her head.

A moan. "Alright!" Siderakis breathed out. "I'll get a medical team ready to go over there! The damned holo-doc can handle all the casualties here!"

"Thanks, Bones," Kirk said. "Samara?"

"Yes, Captain?" Uhura said.

"Signal the _Titanic_. Inform her captain that we'll be more than happy to send people over there to help with whatever casualties they have."

A nod. "I'll inform Captain Smith of that now, sir."

At her station, Lyre paled. "'Captain SMITH?'"

As most of the others on _Haida_'s bridge all shook their heads, Kirk tried not to collapse in his chair. _God! Please, just this once! _Don't_ let this be another Khitomer . . .!_ he pleaded to himself as he gazed on the _Titanic_ . . .

* * *

Elsewhere . . .

_**Um, Ishvara . . .**_

_**Yes, Jehovah?**_

_** It says here in this recipe for the best entertainment in the Universe that every hero must have **_**adventures**_** . . . and not **_**misadventures**_**!**_

_** Er . . . ooops!**_

_** So could you **_**PLEASE**_** release Sors to do whatever he wants with those poor people, then call everyone else together as soon as you can. We're all going fishing!**_

_** Of course, Jehovah! My feet will be like wings!**_

As the Hindu god who controlled all aspects of karma vanished, the Being known to most Japanese as "Kami-sama" turned to gaze on the bald, dark-skinned man in the Starfleet captain's uniform standing nearby. _**Our deal is still on. Right, Ben?**_

"Of course, Sir," a grinning Benjamin Sisko said, nodding. "I'll get the captain's autograph for You . . . and You'll help us finally get back at Q."

Kami-sama smiled. _**I knew I could count on you, young Emissary . . .**_

_**The End . . . For Now?**_

* * *

_**OMAKE NOTES:**__ Again, nothing much really changed save for who spoke which parts, plus also including some of the characters I introduced in the _Special Gifts_ omakes._

_For your information, the characters of Rei Ishikawa, Sharok and Deidre Lyre are all Vanipon's creations. Everyone else comes from me._

_Everyone should also remember one particular Starfleet captain's great respect for another particular Starfleet captain of the previous century, as depicted in the _Deep Space Nine_ fifth season episode "Trials and Tribble-ations."_

_**Alexandra MacPherson**__ is the granddaughter of Chief Alec MacPherson, a character who was also introduced in Brad Ferguson's novel_ Crisis on Centaurus_. Again, the character was introduced on the theme of allowing those who are descent of people who had worked with Jim Kirk and Montgomery Scott in the past to be there for them in the future._


End file.
